Facebook and Instagram users reporting some outages, say internet watchdogs

Facebook and Instagram users in several countries reported partial outages on Sunday, according to internet monitoring services. The disruptions left users unable to access their feeds, with some receiving messages indicating their accounts were temporarily unavailable due to a site issue. DownDetector, an internet service monitor, recorded over 23,000 reports of Facebook issues in the United States between 3:44 and 5:02 a.m. Eastern Time on Sunday. The volume of reports dropped sharply after that period. Similarly, more than 18,000 users reported problems with Instagram in the U.S. during the same timeframe. These incidents were not limited to one region, as NetBlocks, another internet watchdog, observed global outages affecting both platforms. The outages were described as unrelated to any national internet shutdowns, suggesting they were likely technical in nature. The affected users encountered an error message stating their account was “currently unavailable due to a site issue.” They were instructed to attempt logging in again later. Despite these disruptions, WhatsApp, another messaging platform under the ownership of Meta, did not appear to experience similar problems during the outage. This suggests the issue was specific to Facebook and Instagram rather than a broader Meta-wide problem. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has been contacted by CNN for further information regarding the incident. As of now, no official statement has been released from the company. Internet monitoring services continue to track the status of the platforms, though the current situation appears stable following the initial reports of disruption. NetBlocks confirmed that the outages were not linked to any government-imposed restrictions on internet access. Instead, the interruptions seemed to stem from internal system issues within the platforms. The scale of the outage, with thousands of users impacted simultaneously, indicates a potential widespread technical failure or maintenance-related problem. The timing of the outage coincided with peak usage hours for many users, potentially exacerbating the impact on daily communication and information sharing. While the exact cause of the disruption remains unclear, the absence of similar issues on WhatsApp suggests that the problem was localized to Facebook and Instagram. Users who experienced the outage were advised to wait for the systems to stabilize before attempting to log back in. Monitoring services will continue to provide updates as the situation develops.