Google Services Experience Widespread Outage Across Eastern Europe and Turkey

On September 4, 2025, users in Eastern Europe and Turkey reported a significant outage affecting multiple Google services

Critical tools like YouTube, Gmail, the search engine, Maps, and Drive became inaccessible across the region, creating widespread disruption.

Who Were Affected?

Reports flooded in via Downdetector and social media platforms. The outage hit countries including Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia, and parts of Ukraine, Russia, and Germany.

Users noted access issues with the search engine, navigation tools, email, and cloud storage services.

Timing & Duration

The service failures began between approximately 07:00 and 10:00 UTC, depending on the location, and lasted around one to two hours in many areas.

Some regions reported services were gradually restored by late morning.

Technical Signals

Affected users commonly encountered “5xx server error” messages—indicative of issues on Google’s end rather than any local connectivity problems. Interestingly, some users reported being able to access services successfully via virtual private networks (VPNs), suggesting possible regional infrastructure bottlenecks.

Google Has Given No Official Response

Turkey’s Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure acknowledged the outage and stated that the national cybersecurity agency had requested a technical report from Google.

No official statement or explanation was released by Google at the time of reporting.

Impact on Daily Life

The outage disrupted both personal and professional activities. In addition to the general inconvenience for users, businesses relying on Google Ads and Analytics experienced slower site performance and ad delivery, highlighting how intertwined these services are with daily digital infrastructure.

Why It Matters

This incident underscores society’s heavy reliance on cloud-based service infrastructure.

Even temporary disruptions in platforms like email, maps, or search can ripple through productivity, logistics, and communication channels across multiple countries.

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