SOPA Images / Contributor / Getty Images
ZDNET's key takeaways
PayPal and Venmo experienced an outage Friday morning.
Affected accounts couldn't send or receive payments.
PayPal has acknowledged the problem and said a fix is in the works.
Did you have trouble with PayPal or Venmo this morning? You weren't alone. The problem has been resolved, but millions of people were scrambling to find a fix.
Also: PayPal's AI-powered scam alert system might intercept your transactions now - here's why
Shortly before 9 a.m. ET, users began reporting that both platforms were down. They said the platforms would load, but they couldn't send or receive payments. Some users said they couldn't log in at all. PayPal owns Venmo, which would explain why both platforms were affected together.
Spike in outage reports
A graph on Downdetector, a popular outage-tracking site, showed a spike in reports of a Venmo outage at 9 a.m. A graph for PayPal showed the same. (Downdetector is also owned by ZDNET's parent company, Ziff Davis.) PayPal's service status page showed a disruption in online checkout and retail checkout services. A tab on the same page showed Venmo's status as "Operational," but that wasn't the case.
... continue reading