McDonald's restaurants around the world were closed or suspended online ordering on Friday due to a technical glitch, the company said.
The unspecified issue affected fast food chains in Japan and Australia, but social media users reported disruptions in other parts of Asia and Europe, including China and the United Kingdom.
“We understand that we experienced a technology outage that impacted our restaurant. The issue has now been resolved. We would like to thank our customers for their patience and apologize for any inconvenience caused. '' said a McDonald's spokesperson.
McDonald's statement responded to speculation that the company may have been the target of an online attack, adding: “Notably, this issue is not related to any cybersecurity-related incident.”
McDonald's Japan announced in the latest information on X that “many stores nationwide are temporarily suspending operations.'' The company also said, “We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers.''
McDonald's Japan said in a post Friday morning that it was “currently experiencing a system failure.” There are approximately 3,000 McDonald's restaurants in Japan, making it the second largest restaurant after China and the United States.
McDonald's Australia also announced that its stores had suffered a nationwide system outage.
According to a report in the South China Morning Post, McDonald's posted on its Chinese Facebook page at 2:30 p.m. local time, “Due to a computer system failure, our mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks are not working. Please order directly at the restaurant counter.'' Sorry for the inconvenience. “
According to SCMP, the company announced that the issue was fixed in a subsequent update at 4 p.m. local time.
NBC News has reached out to McDonald's for further comment.
