WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook outage affects users worldwide
Meta Platforms’ trio of social media giants – WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram – experienced widespread outages affecting thousands of users globally on Wednesday afternoon. The disruption, initially observed just before 2 p.m. EST, reached its peak roughly half an hour later, as reported by internet tracking website Downdetector.com.
Reports of issues with Facebook and Instagram quickly followed. Meta has yet to provide an update on the cause of the outage. According to Downdetector.com, the majority of WhatsApp users encountered difficulties with the app, particularly concerning message reception.
This incident bears resemblance to a previous mass outage on March 5th, where the same Meta-owned platforms were inaccessible for several hours. Despite speculation of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone attributed the outage to a technical glitch.
During the outage, users turned to alternative platforms to seek information and share memes about the disruption. Approximately two-thirds of Instagram users experienced app-related problems, while nearly a third faced difficulties accessing their feeds. Similarly, around 60% of Facebook users encountered issues with the app, 29% with the website, and 12% reported login troubles.
By 4:12 p.m. EST, the number of affected users dwindled to the hundreds for WhatsApp and Facebook, though Instagram continued to show thousands experiencing difficulties accessing the platform.