Meta Platforms Suffer Major Global Outage Affecting Millions

Users worldwide are reporting difficulties accessing Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp due to a widespread outage impacting Meta's platforms.

"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," Meta, which owns the apps, announced on X (formerly Twitter).

According to the outage-tracking site Downdetector, over 22,000 users reported issues with Facebook, while more than 18,000 faced problems with WhatsApp. The disruptions began around 6:00 PM GMT on Wednesday, with reports coming from the UK, parts of Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the US.

The reported issues range from complete inaccessibility to partial disruptions, such as feeds failing to refresh. Despite the large number of complaints, the actual number of affected users may vary considerably.

Meta’s platforms are among the most widely used globally, with Facebook alone boasting over three billion monthly active users.

This outage brings back memories of Meta's biggest service disruption in 2021, when Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp were down for almost six hours, prompting an apology from CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

While the current outage is shorter in duration, the disruption has caused significant inconvenience for users relying on Meta's services for communication and social interaction. Meta has yet to confirm the cause of the issue.