Meta is down: Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp all suffer major global outage

Meta has said it has suffered a global outage, with some users facing issues using the social media apps Instagram and Facebook, and the WhatsApp messaging service.

In a statement posted on X, Meta said: “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.”

Downdetector, a website which monitors issues with websites and apps, was showing large spikes of problems for people using Facebook and other Meta apps. Facebook outages were first reported at about 6pm on Wednesday, with more than 100,000 complaints registered.

Instagram and WhatsApp were also facing similar complaints, with users unable to send or receive messages.

The outages are unlikely to be as severe as Facebook’s 2021 outage, when a configuration error in a little-known protocol called BGP led to the company accidentally deleting its own address from the systems that allow servers to talk to each other on the internet.

Although that error was spotted immediately, it took several hours for the fix to be enacted and take effect – in part because the company’s engineers could no longer gain remote access to their own servers to fix the problem; nor could they use their corporate passes to get through the electronic locks to gain physical access.

However, it is not the first time this year that Meta services have been hit by worldwide outages. In March, Facebook and Instagram experienced severe issues around the world, with the services refusing login attempts and feeds stalling.

Meta said in a statement on its social network, Threads, at the time: “Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services. We resolved the issue as quickly as possible and we apologise for any inconvenience.”

SOURCE: The Guardian