Users across the United States are encountering significant access issues with Meta’s suite of social media applications, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Messenger. According to Downdetector, a service that tracks outages, reports began surfacing around 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, indicating widespread disruptions.
Many users have expressed frustration as they attempt to log into their accounts or send messages. A Meta spokesperson acknowledged the situation, stating, “We’re aware that a technical issue is impacting some users’ ability to access our apps. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and apologize for any inconvenience.” However, the company has not disclosed the root cause of the problem or provided a timeline for resolution.
As of 1:30 p.m. Eastern, nearly 90,000 reports of issues with Facebook alone had been logged. Users noted that while they could access the platform, they faced difficulties in posting or engaging with content. Cisco ThousandEyes, a technology service company, reported that the outage began around 17:55 UTC, indicating internal server errors and timeouts that may point to complications with Meta’s backend services. Notably, network connectivity to Meta’s frontend web servers appeared unaffected.
As the afternoon progressed, thousands continued to report access issues. WhatsApp users, particularly in countries like Argentina and Brazil, also experienced difficulties sending messages, further highlighting the scope of the outage.
This incident echoes a similar disruption in March, when over half a million users reported being logged out of Meta’s platforms and unable to regain access. At that time, Meta attributed the issues to an unspecified “technical issue.” The recurrence of such outages raises questions about the reliability of the services that millions rely on for communication and social interaction.
