Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are all experiencing worldwide outages after ‘technical issues’ hit the Meta-owned apps.
Issues are also being reported on Threads, a social media platform, and Facebook Messenger.
The issues started just before 5.50pm, according to Downdetector, a website that tracks user reports of telecommunication and internet disruptions.
Nearly an hour later Meta services went down, they now appear to be slowly coming back online – at least, for some users.
Meta said: ‘We’re aware that a technical issue is impacting some users’ ability to access our apps.’
The Silicon Valley company added around three hours later: ‘Thanks for bearing with us!
‘We’re 99% of the way there – just doing some last checks. We apologize to those who’ve been affected by the outage.’
The outages are ‘not related to country-level internet disruptions or filtering’, the internet watchdog NetBlocks said on X.
Some users say they can’t use the service’s app or website at all, post content or see comments. Others can access the site but are finding it runs slowly.
User Debbie Turner said: ‘Cannot post comments or anything. Seems the whole Meta network is buggered – Instagram and Facebook both just not working.’
At its peak just before 6.10pm, nearly 25,400 people reported issues with Facebook on the app, mobile or desktop versions in the UK alone.
Instagram didn’t exactly fare any better. More than 12,000 people have reported outages around that time, too.
The number of users reporting problems with WhatsApp was lower but abruptly increased and decreased across the evening. Going from nearly 15,000 at 7.10pm to 1,300 half an hour later.
The outages are affecting people globally, with issues reported in Germany, Argentina, Japan and elsewhere.
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