Meta experienced a significant global outage affecting its suite of applications, including Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads, and Messenger. The disruption began around 1 PM ET, with users across the United States reporting issues accessing these platforms.
By 5:30 PM, Meta provided an update, stating, “We’re 99% of the way there – just doing some last checks. We apologize to those who’ve been affected by the outage.” Despite this assurance, Downdetector, a website that tracks online service disruptions, logged over 130,000 complaints regarding the affected platforms.
Scope of the Outage
The outage was not confined to the United States; users in the UK, parts of Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America also reported glitches. The most prevalent issues reported for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads included difficulties with the app, website, and server connections. Meanwhile, Messenger and WhatsApp users faced challenges with the app itself, as well as logging in and sending messages.
- Facebook: Over 100,000 issue reports
- Instagram: 62,000 reports
- Messenger: 10,000 reports
- WhatsApp: 11,000 reports
- Threads: 871 reports
In the wake of the outage, many users turned to Elon Musk’s platform, X, to express their frustrations. Criticism directed at CEO Mark Zuckerberg was prevalent, with one user quipping, “Elon Musk to Mark Zuckerberg: ‘You’re sinking my friend.’” Another remarked, “Mark Zuckerberg needs to work on this because it’s becoming too frequent.” Memes circulated depicting Zuckerberg humorously attempting to download X amid the service disruptions.
This incident follows a similar outage in October, which also affected Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, raising concerns about the reliability of Meta’s services.
