Facebook and Instagram Outages Reported as Thousands of Users Experience Service Problems
There has been a large spike in complaints on both platforms for outage tracking services, with tens of thousands of users complaining of issues accessing Facebook and Instagram. Many users tell us they are experiencing issues such as feeds not loading, login issues, slow notifications and problems with posting content or sending messages.
Meta has not yet confirmed the cause or the full extent of the outage being reported, although user reports suggest it is hitting a wide area. Service availability is subject to change by region, Internet service provider and device.
Outage Trackers is filled with thousands of reports
Downdetector and other outage monitoring services reported a spike in reports as users began to have trouble getting onto Facebook and Instagram. This is real-time feedback from users and can be used to detect potential disruptions affecting a large number of users.
Typical issues are blank news feeds, long load times, sign in issues and content update issues. More reports could also indicate that a platform is having technical difficulties, but that’s not always the case.
Not all reported issues will affect all users and some outages may be limited to specific regions or networks.
Users Report Login, Feed Problems
Many of the affected users report they are unable to log into their accounts or their Facebook and Instagram feeds aren’t loading properly. Others say photos, videos, comments and Stories are loading slowly, or not at all.
Others have also reported difficulty with sending direct messages, uploading posts or receiving notifications. Depending on the nature of the outage, mobile apps and web versions may be affected differently.
If the problem is on Meta’s servers, users will usually have to wait for the company to get back to business as usual.
What you can do
Though the user cannot fix widespread outages, they can do a few basic troubleshooting steps to rule out local issues. Issues can also be caused by device or network settings. Restarting the app, refreshing the webpage, switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data, or checking for app updates may resolve these issues.
If the outage trackers are full of reports then it’s more likely that the issue is with the platforms themselves. In these cases, the best thing to do is usually to wait for an official update.
Consumers seeking status updates on service should consult Meta’s official communication channels.
Meta May Quickly Restore Service
Sometimes, large online services experience short outages for server maintenance, infrastructure issues, software updates or unforeseen technical issues. Engineers can often locate and correct these problems in a relatively short period of time.
Meta has not yet issued an official statement about the cause of the reported outage. The length of time to restore service depends on the type of problem.
Sources
- Newsroom Meta – Meta’s official newsroom is where we share platform updates, service issues and company communications.
- Instagram communications – You can follow Instagram’s official sources for updates on technical issues and the platform’s performance.
- Downdetector – Downdetector tracks user reports of outages for social media and other online services in real time.
- NetBlocks – NetBlocks monitors internet outages and reports major service disruptions in online services worldwide.
- Reuters – Reuters reports on major tech outages, official company statements and developments concerning big digital platforms.
