Why it matters: Multiple undersea cables in the south of France were cut overnight, making Internet access unreliable globally. Engineers fixed one broken link, and investigations are still ongoing. Fingers have been pointed at Russian submarines because of the Ukraine conflict, but investigators have not yet found any evidence supporting this assumption.

On Wednesday night, a serious incident involving an undersea cable in the south of France caused widespread internet connectivity issues. At least three fiber cables were severed at 20:30 (UTC), making Internet access slower for users in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Cloud companies quickly worked to fix the backbone.