Tech

If Amazon's cloud goes down, the internet would be in trouble, says Reddit's Alexis Ohanian

Key Points
  • Netflix, Airbnb, Slack, Time, and Reddit use Amazon's cloud platform.
  • "The internet kind of skips a beat," Ohanian says, due to the reliance of many of the websites users "know and love" on Amazon's infrastructure.
Amazon's Whole Foods merger a 'wake-up call' for grocers: Reddit's Alexis Ohanian
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Amazon's Whole Foods merger a 'wake-up call' for grocers: Reddit's Alexis Ohanian

If Amazon's servers were to go down, the internet would be in big trouble, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian said Friday.

"The internet kind of skips a beat," Ohanian said on "Squawk Box," due to the reliance of many of the websites users "know and love" on Amazon's infrastructure.

"So many companies are contingent on that. Google's got a cloud option. There are few others that are coming up," he noted.

Ohanian spoke after a massive ransomware attack hit companies and government computers this week, causing them to shut down their systems. It was the second such attack in two months.

Among the companies that use Amazon Web Services, the world's biggest cloud business, are Netflix, Airbnb, Slack and Time Inc., according to Amazon's website. Reddit also uses AWS. Earlier this year, web users experienced widespread glitches after Amazon's cloud had a technical disruption.

Amazon did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Reddit, which is sometimes referred to as "the front page of the internet," was founded in 2005. The website was the 64th most-visited U.S. site in May with 48 million visitors, according to ComScore.

Regarding Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods, Ohanian said the deal is one additional step of Amazon working toward vertically integrating everything consumers want to buy.

"These trade-offs all make us a lot happier because our lives are a lot better," he said. "[But] what's important to me is that there is always competition."