Slack is down! Messaging platform suffers massive outage as employees return to work

(Image credit: Slack)

Slack, the popular workplace chat app, couldn't be more appropriately named as the business-communication platform slows down to a halt on the first workday of 2021.

"Customers may be experiencing issues connecting and using Slack at this time. Our team is currently investigating and we’re sorry for any troubles this may be causing," the company tweeted as work teams around the world suffer communication impediments due to Slack's outage.

Slack is down on the first work day of 2021

On the first workday of 2021, teams around the world attempted to log into their Slack accounts but were met with error pages and server issues.

Reports of Slack's connection issues rushed in at around 9:57 a.m. EST, according to DownDetector. At 10:14 a.m. EST, Slack confirmed that it is suffering from an outage. "Customers may have trouble loading channels or connecting to Slack at this time. Our team is investigating and we'll follow up with more information as soon as we have it. We apologize for any disruption caused," the business-communication company posted on its status page.

Due to the pandemic, collaborative teams have become increasingly reliant on Slack as workplaces transition into a work-from-home format. The response to Slack's outage on social media has been mixed with some employees expressing joy and others showing frustration.

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As of this writing, Slack still hasn't resolved the issue. Their latest update on the matter was at 11:20 a.m. EST. "We're continuing to investigate connection issues for customers, and have upgraded the incident on our side to reflect an outage in service," Slack said. "All hands are on deck on our end to further investigate. We'll be back in a half hour to keep you posted."

We will update this when we have more information about Slack's massive outage.

Kimberly Gedeon, holding a Master's degree in International Journalism, launched her career as a journalist for MadameNoire's business beat in 2013. She loved translating stuffy stories about the economy, personal finance and investing into digestible, easy-to-understand, entertaining stories for young women of color. During her time on the business beat, she discovered her passion for tech as she dove into articles about tech entrepreneurship, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the latest tablets. After eight years of freelancing, dabbling in a myriad of beats, she's finally found a home at Laptop Mag that accepts her as the crypto-addicted, virtual reality-loving, investing-focused, tech-fascinated nerd she is. Woot!