London residents lose Outlook, Teams and Copilot for over ten hours
Microsoft attributes the disruption to high demand on its systems, not a cyber‑attack, and says services are now partially back online
News London evidence indexOpen analysis ▾
Only Downdetector data and Microsoft statement cited; no named individuals.
Higher is stronger
Facts are listed with figures, but lacks quotes or explanation of impact.
Higher is stronger
Headline overstates failure despite article noting partial recovery.
Lower is better
On 29 July 2026, users in London experienced a widespread interruption to Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, Teams and the AI tool Copilot. The disruption lasted more than ten hours before the company reported a partial return of functionality. Residents and businesses that rely on these applications for daily communication were unable to send or receive email, join virtual meetings or access AI‑driven assistance during that period.
Scale of the outage
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Downdetector, a monitoring service, recorded that reports of Outlook problems rose to about 140,000 at the height of the incident. The figure later fell to roughly 28,000 as the situation improved, according to the same source. The outage was not confined to the United Kingdom; Microsoft confirmed that users in at least 74 countries experienced similar disruptions.
"elevated load" on its infrastructure, not a cyber‑security incident
Microsoft, as reported by the BBC
Microsoft’s explanation and next steps
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Microsoft told the public that the incident resulted from unusually high demand on its servers, which it described as "elevated load". The company explicitly ruled out a hacking attempt or other security breach as the cause. In a statement relayed by the BBC, a Microsoft spokesperson added that the response to the problem was not "taking as expected" and that engineers were working to restore full capacity.
The firm now reports a "partial recovery" of the affected services across its global network. Users are advised to monitor the Microsoft 365 status page for updates and to report any lingering issues through the standard support channels. Organisations that depend on these tools for critical operations may need to review contingency plans while full service is re‑established.
Questions this report answers
+How long were Outlook, Teams and Copilot unavailable in London?
The services were down for more than ten hours on 29 July 2026. The outage began in the morning and continued until partial recovery was reported later in the day, affecting daily communications for residents and businesses.
+What caused the Microsoft outage according to the company?
Microsoft said the disruption was caused by elevated load on its infrastructure, not a cyber‑security incident. The explanation was given in a statement that the BBC cited, and it indicates the issue stemmed from unusually high demand on the servers.
+How many outage reports did Downdetector record for Outlook at the peak?
Downdetector logged around 140,000 reports of Outlook problems at the height of the incident. The number later decreased to about 28,000 as services began to recover, showing a significant drop in user‑reported issues.
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