Netflix experienced brief technical difficulties and crashes on December 31, 2025, and January 1, 2026, as millions of fans attempted to stream the highly anticipated finale of "Stranger Things" Season 5. This marks the second time the streaming service has faced outages during a "Stranger Things" release, with a similar incident occurring on November 26, 2025. The finale, titled "Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up," is the longest episode of the series and concludes a decade-long run. Users reported error messages, but service was generally restored quickly.