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Microsoft reports progress restoring services after global outage

What’s new: Microsoft said on Friday that services were showing early signs of stabilisation and traffic was being restored.

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 36 outlets across the spectrum.

79 articles in total, 1 of them opinion. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

Microsoft logo and lettering sign in front of a glass office building with autumn trees
Image via The Washington TimesHow images are chosenReport this image

Microsoft reported progress on Friday in restoring email and other services after a global outage disrupted Outlook, Teams and Copilot. The company said the disruption was linked to a technical issue and not to a cyberattack or AI, and it has said a network capacity upgrade was behind it. Reports say millions of people in more than 70 countries were affected, including banks, governments, schools, police emergency calls and court operations. Microsoft said email backlogs were approaching normal, but some local services remained unavailable and users could still face intermittent problems.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. Editors read every story. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. Microsoft said the outage was linked to a technical issue and was not caused by a cyberattack or AI.

    Reported byLeft1Center1Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    NBC News
    Center
    BBC News
    Right
    New York Post

  2. Microsoft said it had made progress restoring services and that email backlogs were approaching normal.

    Reported byLeft1Center1Right1Far Right2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The New York Times
    Center
    Semafor
    Right
    The Washington Times
    Far Right
    The Epoch Times, The Daily Caller

  3. Some services remained unavailable, and users could still face intermittent problems.

    Reported byLeft2Center1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Guardian, Al Jazeera English
    Center
    BBC News

  4. The outage reportedly affected millions of people in more than 70 countries.

    Reported byCenter1Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Center
    BBC News
    Right
    New York Post

  5. The outage hit banks, governments, schools, local governments, police emergency calls and court operations.

    Reported byLeft1Center1Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Guardian
    Center
    Financial Times
    Right
    The Washington Times

What is contested

Where accounts differ

Questions the coverage answers differently, and who says what.

  • Are Microsoft services back to normal?

    Microsoft said email was approaching normal, and the New York Post, Epoch Times and Daily Caller report recovery toward normal levels. Al Jazeera reports services remain down and fixes are not going as expected, and the Guardian says some services remain unavailable.

How each side tells it

Compare views

All three sides report that Microsoft's outage disrupted Outlook, Teams and other services worldwide and that Microsoft is working on recovery. The left stresses ongoing disruption and Microsoft's explanation, while the right stresses the return to normal and rules out AI as the cause.

  • the left

    15 outlets

    Left headlines stress ongoing disruption and unresolved fixes, as in Al Jazeera's live headline saying services remain down, and NBC's headline leads with Microsoft's stated cause.

    Microsoft outage live: Global users affected as services remain down
    Al Jazeera EnglishLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    12 outlets

    Center headlines are mostly descriptive, covering recovery progress and the reach of the outage, while MarketWatch and Semafor add broader takes on reliance on a few tech companies.

    Watch: How the Microsoft outage affected North America
    BBC NewsCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    9 outlets · 1 opinion

    Right headlines lead with Microsoft's recovery claims and rule out AI as the cause, with Daily Caller's Outlook paralyzes wording the most dramatic; Washington Times runs an AP report.

    Microsoft says service is returning to normal, AI not to blame for ‘historic’ outage
    New York PostRightAll right-leaning headlines

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

  • Left15

    chaosor celebratingstrandsfed-up workers

  • Center1

    slumps

  • Right7

    paralyzeschaosraising concernsclaims

In the outlets’ own words

  • Sensational language

    chaosMore neutral: disruption

    The word dramatises the disruption beyond the reported facts of outages and service failures.

    First Thing: Global Microsoft outage chaos as tech firm says there are ‘signs of stabilisation’

    Used byThe Guardian (Left)Daily Mail (Right)

  • Loaded verb

    paralyzesMore neutral: disrupts

    The verb suggests total halt, which the reports of partial and gradual disruption do not establish.

    Microsoft outage chaos paralyzes US, as city governments seize up and jail stops releasing inmates

    Used byDaily Mail (Right)The Western Journal (Far Right)

  • Vague attribution

    or celebratingMore neutral: leaving office workers unable to access email

    It implies unnamed workers were glad of the outage, which the excerpt does not support.

    …States unable to access their Outlook email, leaving office workers stranded (or celebrating).

    Used byCNN (Left)

  • Loaded verb

    strandsMore neutral: disrupts email access for office workers

    The verb adds drama beyond the reported fact that users could not reach their email.

    Microsoft outage strands office workers nationwide

    Used byCNN (Left)

Show 18 more phrasesShow fewer

  • Loaded modifier

    fed-up workersMore neutral: workers

    The label attaches a mood to workers that the reporting does not establish.

    • Global disruption: In the United States, fed-up workers at some companies went home early on Thursday.

    Used byCNN (Left)

  • Sensational language

    untold millionsMore neutral: millions

    The phrase implies an unquantified figure to add drama instead of a reported estimate.

    …As Europe woke on Friday morning, the outage was still widespread, affecting untold millions of people.

    Used byCNN (Left)

  • Loaded verb

    hurled back in timeMore neutral: disrupted, with some work reverting to older methods

    The verb ‘hurled’ adds drama to a disruption that the article itself describes as services affected for a period.

    Australian schools, courts and government services have been hurled back in time to how business used to be done after a global Microsoft outage caused emails…

    Used byThe Guardian (Left)

  • Sensational language

    sent back to time before emailMore neutral: hit by outage, with some services relying on older methods

    The headline dramatizes a partial outage as a return to a pre-digital era, which goes beyond what the reported facts show.

    ‘Looks like we’ll have to talk to people’: Australia sent back to time before email with major Microsoft outage

    Used byThe Guardian (Left)

  • Sensational language

    barely use it anywayMore neutral: How some business leaders rely on email

    The headline's aside implies the leaders are unaffected or hypocritical, a judgement the reporting does not establish.

    These business leaders barely use it anyway.

    Used byBusiness Insider (Left)

  • Vague attribution

    raising concernsMore neutral: The outage is the second to hit Microsoft 365 services this year.

    The concerns are attributed to no named source.

    It is the second disruption to Microsoft’s 365 services this year, raising concerns that repeated failures could push corporate clients to question Microsoft’s…

    Used byNew York Post (Right)

  • Sensational language

    MassiveMore neutral: Large

    The scale is asserted by an adjective rather than shown by a reported figure.

    Massive Email Outage Hits Millions Worldwide

    Used byThe Daily Beast (Far Left)

  • Sensational language

    dramatic weekMore neutral: busy week

    The adjective adds drama to a week of market events that the report describes factually.

    US stock futures edged lower ahead of inflation data that will cap a dramatic week of mounting bets on Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes and the ouster of Jensen…

    Used byBloomberg (Left)

  • Loaded verb

    admitsMore neutral: says

    “Admits” implies Microsoft confessed to a failing, where “says” reports the same statement neutrally.

    As disruption affects users worldwide, Microsoft admits fixes are not going 'as expected'.

    Used byAl Jazeera English (Left)

  • Sensational language

    causing chaosMore neutral: disrupting

    “Chaos” asserts a dramatic effect in the outlet’s own voice, while the rest of the coverage describes the disruption in more measured terms.

    Here's what we know so far about the Microsoft outage that's causing chaos for businesses.

    Used byBusiness Insider (Left)

  • Sensational language

    Scandal DeepensMore neutral: Nvidia Reports Continue

    “Scandal” and “deepens” present an unspecified Nvidia matter as escalating wrongdoing, which the supplied text does not establish.

    Microsoft Outage Hits Businesses, Nvidia Scandal Deepens

    Used byBloomberg (Left)

  • Sensational language

    thrown into chaosMore neutral: were disrupted

    The phrase dramatises the effect on workplaces and agencies beyond the reported facts.

    Workplaces, government agencies and schools around the globe were thrown into chaos after Microsoft’s servers went down Thursday afternoon.

    Used byNBC News (Left)

  • Loaded verb

    slumpsMore neutral: falls

    The verb dramatises a premarket dip that the report describes only as the stock falling.

    Microsoft stock slumps on outage that includes the Copilot tool it has been heavily promoting

    Used byMarketWatch (Center)

  • Sensational language

    crippledMore neutral: disrupted

    The word implies total incapacitation, which the reports of some but not all users affected do not establish.

    A global outage of vital Microsoft systems has crippled businesses and public services around the world.

    Used byThe Guardian (Left)

  • Loaded verb

    claimsMore neutral: says

    Claims casts doubt on Microsoft’s own statement of recovery, and the article gives no evidence against it.

    Microsoft claims it is making "encouraging recovery process" but has not fully repaired the systems…

    Used byBreitbart News (Far Right)

  • Sensational language

    Email MeltdownMore neutral: email outage

    Meltdown dramatizes a service outage that the article itself describes as being repaired and stabilizing.

    Microsoft's Email Meltdown Extends into Second Day, Company Reports 'Progress' Towards Recovery

    Used byBreitbart News (Far Right)

  • Sensational language

    sparked chaosMore neutral: caused disruption

    The phrase dramatises the disruption beyond the reported facts.

    A massive Microsoft outage has paralyzed city governments across the US and sparked chaos as everyday systems relying on the tech have seized up.

    Used byDaily Mail (Right)

  • Loaded verb

    Paralyzes OutlookMore neutral: Disrupts Outlook

    The verb paralyzes presents the disruption as total, while the sources describe a backlog and intermittent access problems.

    Microsoft Says Email Backlog ‘Approaching Normal’ After Outage Paralyzes Outlook

    Used byThe Daily Caller (Far Right)

See the full language guide

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

15 outlets

Leads with

  • Services still down or not fixed
  • Microsoft's network capacity explanation
  • Local governments and schools hit
See the 16 headlines from the leftHide the headlines

From the center

12 outlets

Leads with

  • Recovery progress and intermittent problems
  • Scale of impact across countries and sectors
  • Reliance on a few tech providers
See the 12 headlines from the centerHide the headlines

From the right

9 outlets · 1 opinion

Leads with

  • Microsoft's recovery claims
  • AI not to blame
  • Return to normal
See the 12 headlines from the rightHide the headlines

The stories you read build My Mix, a private picture of which sides cover the stories you choose, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    2 hr 39 min later

    Its first report, Nov 12, 2:11 PM EST

  • Center

    2 hr 24 min later

    Its first report, Nov 12, 1:57 PM EST

  • Right

    First to report

    The Daily Wire, Nov 12, 11:33 AM EST

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. The Daily WireFar RightNov 12, 11:33 AM EST
  2. Scripps NewsCenterNov 12, 1:57 PM EST
  3. Breitbart NewsFar RightNov 12, 2:00 PM EST
  4. ABC NewsLeftNov 12, 2:11 PM EST
  5. NewsNationCenterNov 12, 2:19 PM EST
  6. NewsweekCenterNov 12, 2:28 PM EST
  7. The Washington TimesRightNov 12, 2:43 PM EST
  8. New York PostRightNov 12, 3:03 PM EST
  9. United Press InternationalCenterNov 12, 3:07 PM EST
  10. BBC NewsCenterNov 12, 3:25 PM EST
  11. The Boston GlobeFar LeftNov 12, 3:28 PM EST
  12. CNBCCenterNov 12, 3:57 PM EST
  13. The GuardianLeftNov 12, 4:00 PM EST
  14. Al Jazeera EnglishLeftNov 12, 4:03 PM EST
  15. Deutsche WelleCenterNov 12, 4:19 PM EST
  16. NBC NewsLeftNov 12, 6:15 PM EST
  17. The New York TimesLeftNov 12, 6:40 PM EST
  18. CNNLeftNov 12, 7:27 PM EST
  19. NPRLeftNov 12, 8:26 PM EST
  20. Sky NewsCenterNov 12, 11:33 PM EST
  21. Financial TimesCenterNov 13, 1:03 AM EST
  22. Business InsiderLeftNov 13, 1:07 AM EST
  23. The Daily BeastFar LeftNov 13, 3:44 AM EST
  24. CBS NewsLeftNov 13, 5:15 AM EST
  25. BloombergLeftNov 13, 5:59 AM EST
  26. HuffPostFar LeftNov 13, 6:01 AM EST
  27. MarketWatchCenterNov 13, 7:14 AM EST
  28. The HillCenterNov 13, 7:53 AM EST
  29. Daily MailRightNov 13, 7:55 AM EST
  30. MS NOWFar LeftNov 13, 8:41 AM EST
  31. TIMELeftNov 13, 9:06 AM EST
  32. The Western JournalFar RightNov 13, 9:19 AM EST
  33. The Daily CallerFar RightNov 13, 11:12 AM EST
  34. The Epoch TimesFar RightNov 13, 11:35 AM EST
  35. SemaforCenterNov 13, 12:31 PM EST

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out. Just the News gave only a date, so it is not placed.

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