DOMINANT ANGLE
Rome is measuring the cost of a London Google Cloud outage in blocked payments and clients to be compensated, more than a debate on dependence on the American cloud.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
An electrical power issue at a Google Cloud data center near London paralyzed Revolut, Lloyds, HSBC, and Royal Mail for hours, with effects elsewhere in Europe (ANSA).
- 02
Revolut reported difficulties with ATM withdrawals, transfers, and card top-ups, while ensuring that customer money and data were secure.
- 03
The Italian association Adusbef is asking, according to La Repubblica, that the bank compensate affected users.
ANALYSIS
Rome, October 20, 2026. The Italian press is treating the Google Cloud outage as a financial incident above all. ANSA reports on "problems with several Google cloud services in Europe" that caused disruptions to banks, businesses, and online services from the morning. The group's European data center in London is identified as the origin of the malfunction; Google Cloud confirms "a problem with several services" and apologizes to all affected users.
In a second dispatch, the agency specifies the cause advanced later in the day: an electrical power problem in a data center near London, which Google attributes to "an event related to the electrical power supply". The services were down for hours, with repercussions in other parts of Europe. In the afternoon, the company indicates that most activities have returned to normal. ANSA cites the Guardian to mention millions of users affected, especially at Revolut.
The Italian account focuses on the details of payments. Thousands of Revolut customers had trouble paying and accessing their funds; the digital bank reports problems with ATM withdrawals, transfers, and card top-ups. Its spokesperson assures that "the money and data of all our clients are safe" and apologizes to those affected. Lloyds records malfunctions of its application, then announces that "the underlying problems are resolved"; HSBC also reports access difficulties.
ANSA, relying on Downdetector, expands the list to Rightmove, Royal Mail, the telephone group BT, and the transporter DPD. It also notes that the video conferencing system for remote hearings in England and Wales was blocked all morning.
La Repubblica, in an article signed by Flavio Bini, emphasizes the "gravity" of the interruptions affecting "many financial realities in the United Kingdom, from HSBC to Royal Mail". It gives a voice to the consumer association Adusbef, which demands that the bank compensate users: the Italian angle thus shifts from the technical cause to the compensation due to customers.
In the provided texts, the issue of cloud concentration among a few American providers or that of European digital autonomy is not developed; Google is presented as an "American giant" or "US big tech", without explicit political extension.
