If you noticed something weird happening to your Facebook feed yesterday, you weren't alone.
Confused users began reporting a glitch yesterday afternoon, with the social media giant later saying the problem had been fixed — but not much else.
Here's what we know.
What caused the Facebook glitch?
The explanation for the glitch came from a tweet from Meta communications manager Alexandru Voica.
He put it down to a "configuration change" without elaborating further.
There weren't any posts about the issue from the official accounts of Meta or Facebook and there were no press releases about it from Meta's newsroom.
So it's been fixed?
Yes.
"We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologise for any inconvenience," Mr Voica said.
What was the problem?
The main complaint was from users who said their Facebook feeds had been flooded with posts from random people to celebrities including Eminem, Taylor Swift, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Outage tracking site Downdetector showed thousands of reports submitted from about 3.20pm AEST.
A spike in reports on the site lasted for about an hour and a half, and had dropped back to more normal levels by about 7.20pm AEST.
Mr Voica's update on the situation came just after 8pm AEST.
Hashtags #facebookhacked and #facebookdown began trending on Twitter (which isn't owned by Meta) as people tried to work out what was going on:
Have I been hacked?
There was no mention of it being related to hacking by Meta but if you're concerned about your Facebook account being hacked, Meta has guides to help.
Meta says your Facebook account might have been hacked if:
- Your email or password have changed
- Your name or birthday have changed
- Friend requests have been sent to people you don't know
- Messages have been sent that you didn't write
- Posts or ads have been made that you didn't create
If you think that's you, you can report this through Facebook.
If you're on the smartphone app:
- Tap the Menu button
- Then tap the gear wheel icon to get into Settings and Privacy
- Tap "Password and security"
- Scroll down to the link that says "If you think your account has been hacked" then follow the prompts
If you're on desktop:
- Go to the top right hand side of your screen and click on on the "Account" button — which should be a circular icon with your profile picture in it
- Select "Help and support" in the drop down menu
- Click on Help Center
- Once the Help Center opens, go to Policies and Reporting in the menu on the left-hand side of the screen
- Select "Hacked and fake accounts"
- Under "Hacked accounts", click "I think my Facebook account was hacked or someone is using it without my permission" and follow the prompts
Meta says users should never share their password with anyone and advises against using the same password for your Facebook account on other sites.
