Meta announced on Wednesday that it is in the process of resolving a technical problem that has led to a widespread outage of its apps, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The company acknowledged the issue and expressed its commitment to restoring normal service as quickly as possible, apologizing for any inconvenience caused.
Both WhatsApp and Instagram confirmed the outages, with numerous users reporting difficulties accessing Meta's platforms. The outage persisted for over three hours, with Meta indicating that it was close to fully resolving the issue by 5:30 pm EST.
According to reports on the outage tracking site Downdetector, Instagram received nearly 70,000 outage reports, while Facebook had over 105,000 reports. Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp also experienced significant numbers of outage reports. Additionally, Meta's competitor, Threads, saw an increase in reported outages. It is important to note that Downdetector relies on self-reported data and may not capture the full extent of the issues.
2024 has seen several notable tech outages, including a major Microsoft Outlook and Teams outage in late November. Earlier in the year, a significant IT outage caused by CrowdStrike's software issue disrupted various sectors, resulting in substantial financial losses for companies.
While not on the same scale as previous outages, the impact of Meta's platforms is significant due to their immense popularity among social media users. In 2023, Meta reported a total of 3.98 billion monthly active users across its portfolio, underscoring the widespread reach of its services.
