Taco Bell has extended its free taco giveaway through Thursday for consumers who were unable to redeem to the online offer because of tech issues.

The fast-food chain's website and mobile app experienced high traffic Tuesday that left some unable to redeem the offer on web browsers and the app.

"Clearly the only thing people love more than tacos are free Doritos Locos Tacos. Our fans' overwhelming excitement made it difficult for some of you to redeem your free taco online, and we noticed," Taco Bell said in an email to affected registered users. "To make up for it, we're extending the celebration just for you."

The fine print of the email, which had the subject "Still hungry for that free taco?," says the free taco can be redeemed "online on mobile or desktop only." No purchase is necessary for the free Doritos Locos Taco.

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Tuesday's giveaway was for its “Steal a Game, Steal a Taco” promotion, which awarded free Doritos Locos Tacos to consumers because the Golden State Warriors stole a road win in the second game of the 2019 NBA finals.

From 2 to 6 p.m. local time, consumers could walk in and get the freebie, but had more time to take advantage of the deal if they ordered from the Taco Bell mobile app or website.

Similar to what has happened when other restaurants give away free food, including Chipotle, the website and app were down for many users, according to social media reports and a message posted on the Taco Bell website.

Taco Bell's technical difficulties come days after Target's registers went down nationwide and on the same day as a Google Calendar outage.

Social media comments from Tuesday

"Online ordering haven't been working, and I'm hungry, so looks like I'm going to @Wendys," Twitter user @pmunoz50 wrote.

"I just tried to get the free taco for lunch, and your iOS app was a complete failure. Everything was loading so slowly if at all, and I couldn't even get the checkout to go through. Don't bother with these app promotions, if it can't handle the user traffic. @tacobellcare," Twitter user @rybo213 tweeted.

"This is great and all, too bad you can't even order on the app or website. Won't take the price of the taco off on the app. So that's fun, a free $2 taco really isn't worth this much hassle," @Ziggy4532 wrote.

Follow Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko