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DoorDash experienced a significant service outage on Tuesday, leaving thousands of customers unable to place orders and delivery drivers unable to access the platform, as the popular food delivery service faced technical difficulties that disrupted operations across multiple regions.

The problems began gaining widespread attention around 9:43 a.m. ET, with users reporting app crashes, login failures and error messages preventing normal functionality. Downdetector and other service tracking sites showed a sharp spike in complaints, with more than 10,000 reports submitted within hours of the outage starting. The timing during peak lunch hours amplified the impact for both customers expecting deliveries and drivers relying on the app for work.

DoorDash has not yet released an official explanation for the disruption, but users attempting to access the service through browsers encountered DNS-related error messages, suggesting potential issues with domain resolution or backend authentication systems. The outage appeared to affect both the customer app and driver tools, creating a dual impact on the platform’s ecosystem.

Widespread Impact on Users and Operations

Customers across the United States reported being unable to browse restaurants, add items to carts or complete orders. Many who had already placed orders earlier in the day found that drivers were unable to accept or fulfill them, leading to cancellations and delays. The service’s integration with third-party restaurant systems also appeared affected, complicating operations for partnered businesses.

Delivery drivers took to social media to share frustrations over lost income opportunities, with some reporting being logged out or unable to see available orders. The outage highlighted the platform’s central role in the gig economy, where independent contractors depend on consistent access for daily earnings.

Restaurants partnered with DoorDash also faced challenges, with some reporting reduced order volumes and difficulties managing incoming requests through the platform’s merchant tools. The combined effect created a ripple of inconvenience for users, workers and businesses alike during what is typically one of the busiest periods of the day.

Technical Details and Possible Causes

Initial reports pointed to problems with authentication and load balancing, as many users encountered errors when attempting to log in or refresh the app. DNS issues were frequently mentioned, indicating that the problem may involve how requests are routed to DoorDash’s servers rather than a complete infrastructure failure.

DoorDash maintains a complex technical architecture to handle high volumes of orders, real-time tracking and payment processing. Such systems are generally robust but can experience issues during scaling events, software updates or unexpected traffic spikes. The company has invested heavily in redundancy and monitoring, but complex interdependencies between services can still lead to widespread problems when one component fails.

This is not the first time DoorDash has faced notable outages, though the current incident’s scale has drawn significant attention due to the number of dependent users. Past disruptions have typically been resolved within a few hours through backend fixes and traffic rerouting.

Company Response and Customer Guidance

DoorDash has not issued a detailed public statement on the outage’s cause or expected resolution time as of Tuesday afternoon. The company’s status page showed degraded performance for several services, directing users to standard troubleshooting steps such as restarting the app, clearing cache or trying alternative networks.

Customers experiencing issues are encouraged to check Downdetector or the company’s official channels for updates. For those with existing orders, contacting restaurants directly or monitoring app notifications for cancellation or delay information is recommended. DoorDash typically offers credits or refunds to affected users once service is restored.

Drivers are advised to log out and back in periodically or explore alternative gig opportunities during the downtime. The company is expected to provide compensation for lost earnings once normal operations resume.

Broader Implications for On-Demand Services

The outage underscores the growing dependence on digital delivery platforms for daily needs. As services like DoorDash become integral to meal routines and small business operations, even brief disruptions can have meaningful economic and practical consequences.

The incident highlights the importance of robust technical infrastructure and contingency planning in the gig economy. Companies in this space invest heavily in redundancy, but the complexity of real-time systems makes absolute prevention challenging. Competitors such as Uber Eats and Grubhub may see temporary increased demand, though most users tend to return to their preferred platform once service is restored.

Industry analysts note that reliability has become a key competitive factor as consumers grow more reliant on these services. Outages of this nature often prompt reviews of backend systems and can influence customer loyalty if they occur frequently.

Recommendations for Users

While awaiting resolution, basic troubleshooting steps such as force-closing the app, restarting devices or switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data may help in some cases. Using a VPN or trying access through a browser can sometimes bypass app-specific issues.

Businesses partnered with DoorDash should monitor their merchant dashboards for updates and communicate directly with customers if orders are delayed. For critical needs, exploring alternative delivery options or preparing meals at home can serve as temporary solutions.

Users who experience significant inconvenience are encouraged to document the impact for potential compensation requests once the outage is resolved. DoorDash has a history of issuing credits or refunds for major disruptions.

Company Background and Reliability Efforts

DoorDash has grown rapidly since its founding, becoming one of the largest players in the food delivery space. The company has invested in technology to improve reliability, including advanced monitoring systems and redundant infrastructure. Despite occasional outages, it has generally maintained strong uptime, though the current incident highlights the challenges of scaling complex real-time platforms.

DoorDash’s engineering teams are focused on continuous improvement, with regular stress testing and failover procedures designed to minimize the impact of technical issues. The company typically conducts post-incident reviews to identify root causes and implement preventive measures.

What to Expect Next

DoorDash is expected to provide more details on the cause and resolution timeline once services are fully restored. The company will likely offer apologies and promotional credits to affected accounts in line with its policies for major disruptions.

For customers and drivers, the focus remains on minimizing inconvenience while the technical teams work to restore full functionality. The outage is receiving full attention, with restoration efforts prioritized across impacted services.

The incident serves as a reminder of how dependent many have become on on-demand delivery platforms and the importance of having backup options during technical difficulties. As DoorDash works toward resolution, users are encouraged to stay informed through official channels and remain patient during this temporary disruption.

DoorDash outages, while infrequent, tend to generate significant attention due to the platform’s popularity and the number of people affected. The current situation is being actively addressed, and normal service is expected to resume shortly. Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available from the company.

China is allegedly orchestrating a highly coordinated, “travel agency”-style operation designed to funnel Chinese nationals across U.S. borders, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Tuesday.

Speaking exclusively on FOX Business’ “Mornings with Maria,” the current special envoy for the Shield of the Americas detailed intelligence she said showed how alleged Beijing-backed networks provide undocumented migrants with specialized documents and transit directly to the northern and southern borders.

“We saw very coordinated attacks of people coming into this country from China,” Noem said. “Countries that I have worked with in Latin and South America have told us how they had Chinese operations set up for people to fly into their countries, almost like a travel agency would be.”

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“They would show up, be handed certain documents, a backpack, get on a bus and then bus straight up over our southern border… And overwhelmingly, the testimonies have been that they were the same-aged individuals, young, mainly men, some females, but very much a coordinated attempt to get individuals into our country, to change our country,” she added.

Former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem delivers remarks during a working lunch at Trump National Doral in Miami, Florida, on March 7, 2026. (Getty Images)

Republicans have warned for years about a record number of Chinese immigrants crossing the border, with reports of more than 22,000 encounters involving Chinese nationals at the southern border since late 2023.

U.S. intelligence and the DEA have also repeatedly said that the vast majority of illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals originate in chemical factories inside China before being shipped to Mexican cartels for processing and trafficking.

“They have facilitated that,” Noem said. “I wouldn’t say, necessarily, we found ties to it officially, right to the government, but absolutely, Chinese businesses, those tied to the CCP, those individuals working with the cartels to make sure that the product gets into the United States.”

“And remember, China has a thousand-year plan to destroy the United States. They don’t just build up their military. They don’t just manipulate their currency, harm us with trade practices,” she said. “They have a plan to kill our country from the inside by killing off our next generation of Americans. They will use every tool that they have.”

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Noem, the former South Dakota congresswoman and governor, was ousted from her top DHS position on March 5. Noem’s tenure marked a distinct reversal of the open-border policies permitted by predecessor Alejandro Mayorkas during the Biden administration, and DHS reported record drug interdictions totaling more than half a million pounds of illegal drugs in her first year.

Under former Secretary Kristi Noem’s leadership, the Department of Homeland Security said in December 2025 that the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown helped spur more than 1.9 million self-deportations and more than 600,000 removals. Supporters hailed the numbers as proof of a record-setting enforcement effort, though independent demographers and fact-checkers disputed the methodology behind the self-deportation estimates.

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Fox News’ Adam Shaw, Charles Creitz and Alex Miller contributed to this report.

SpaceX stock continued to surge on Tuesday following its record-setting IPO last week, with the company’s market capitalization surpassing Amazon and briefly topping Microsoft.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX debuted on the Nasdaq on Friday following its IPO and shares have risen about 35% since it began trading last week, as traders look to capitalize on its momentum.

Tuesday saw SpaceX’s stock climb as much as 15% in early trading, which pushed the company’s market cap beyond the $2.66 trillion valuation for Amazon and Microsoft’s $2.93 trillion market value. 

That briefly made it the fourth-largest global company by market cap before some of those gains were pared back.

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SpaceX’s stock was boosted by the announcement that it would acquire Anysphere for $60 billion. 

Anysphere is the parent company of Cursor, which is the provider of a coding agent powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and has become a popular “vibe-coding” tool.

SpaceX and Cursor announced a partnership in April that paired Cursor’s product and software engineering expertise with SpaceX’s supercomputers.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire on paper after the company’s IPO last week. (Jessica Christian/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

The deal gave SpaceX the option of acquiring Cursor this year for $60 billion or paying $10 billion for the joint work.

“SpaceX has exercised the option to acquire @cursor_ai in an all-stock transaction with the goal of building the world’s most useful AI models,” SpaceX wrote in a post on X.

“For the past few months, SpaceXAI has been jointly training a model with Cursor, which will be released in Cursor and Grok Build soon. We look forward to working closely with the Cursor team to advance our frontier AI capabilities,” SpaceX added. 

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SpaceX has ambitious goals for developing space-based AI data centers, which contributed to its acquisition of Cursor. (AFP via Getty Images)

In its IPO filing, SpaceX said that Cursor’s access to developers’ data, such as coding requests and design decisions, could help improve its AI models like Grok.

Grok was developed by xAI, Musk’s AI startup, which acquired the X social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

SpaceX announced the acquisition of xAI in February, which Musk said would “form the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the world’s foremost real-time information and free speech platform.”

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Musk and SpaceX are planning to deploy space-based AI data centers, as he believes that the electricity demand sparked by the global AI boom can’t be met by terrestrial solutions and that scaling will require the use of space-based AI powered by energy from the sun and cooled by the depths of space.

Reuters contributed to this report.