Netizens have complained that Amazon's smart voice assistant Alexa is currently down. Problems reportedly began at about 7:00 a.m. GMT on Friday, with complaints coming from the UK, Germany, Ireland, and other part of Europe.
The users are tweeting that when issuing voice commands to Alexa devices, they either hear complete silence, or messages that "something went wrong" or that Alexa has lost its connection.
Many have complained that after they tried to wake their Amazon Echo speakers, they saw a red ring of lights and a request to try again later.
One user wondered whether "it is the end of the world", while another netizen tweeted that "Amazon Alexa is down for many users".
The extent of the issue is not clear yet, with netizens’ complaints of Alexa being down coming from the UK, Germany, and other parts of Europe. Amazon has yet to comment on the purported breakdown.
This follows Twitter users reacting angrily to Kristin Livdahl's message in late December that her 10-year-old daughter asked Alexa for a challenge and that the virtual assistant offered her to "plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs", something that understandably can result in fires, electric shocks, and severe injuries.