Why Facebook, YouTube, Instagram Apps Were Down
The outage began around 10 AM ET (8.30 PM IST), disrupting normal operations for many users.
Meta-owned social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and Threads experienced a significant outage lasting for over an hour, affecting users worldwide. The outage began around 10 AM ET, disrupting normal operations for many users. Andy Stone, Meta’s head of communications, confirmed the outage and subsequent resolution via a tweet on the X platform (formerly Twitter). He stated that a technical issue had caused difficulties in accessing the services, but the problem had been swiftly addressed. Stone apologized for any inconvenience caused by the disruption.
Stone, along with other company executives, acknowledged the outage on various platforms, including X, indicating that Facebook, Instagram, and Threads were indeed experiencing issues. He reassured users that the company was actively working to resolve the problem.
Meta officially acknowledged the issue on its status page at 10:17 AM ET, mentioning that there was an issue affecting Facebook Login. The engineering teams were immediately engaged in resolving the issue to minimize disruption for users. By 12:07 PM ET, the status page reported that the services were in the process of being restored, and Meta apologized for any inconvenience caused by the outage.
During the outage, users encountered different issues across the platforms. Facebook users were logged out of their accounts, while Instagram users were unable to refresh their feeds. Threads, a messaging app by Meta, displayed a message stating, “Sorry, something went wrong. Try again.” These disruptions impacted the normal usage of the platforms and caused frustration among users.
This incident is not the first time Meta-owned platforms have experienced such widespread outages. In 2021, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were down for several hours due to faulty changes on routers that coordinate network traffic between data centers. These outages highlight the dependence of billions of users on these platforms for communication, social interaction, and information sharing.
Facebook remains the largest social media platform globally, boasting three billion active monthly users. Instagram, a photo-sharing platform owned by Meta, has approximately 1.35 billion users, according to the latest data available. The sheer scale of these platforms underscores the impact of any disruptions on a global scale and the importance of swiftly addressing technical issues to minimize inconvenience for users.
