Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp down: what happened and are they back online?
Complaints flood in as millions are left without social media access for 14 hours
Facebook has suffered its “most severe outage ever”, with the social network’s products being inaccessible for many hours all across the world.
The site, along with the Messenger app, WhatsApp and its image-sharing platform Instagram, experienced problems yesterday afternoon and “only showed real signs of recovery this morning”, the BBC reports.
The outages meant platforms, which are used by millions of people every day, were rendered “mostly useless” for around 14 hours, the broadcaster says.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Complaints running into the tens of thousands were posted on website tracker Downdetector, where users reporting issues with logging in to Facebook and its affiliated apps.
While the services appear to be back online for most people, some users in Asia and South America are still experiencing difficulties.
What happened?
Problems for the four platforms began at 3pm UK time on Wednesday, with users from the US, Japan, New Zealand, Britain and other parts of Europe unable to log in to the social media services, Sky News reports.
Shortly after users began experiencing problems with the websites, Facebook announced on Twitter that it was aware people were “having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps” and was “working to resolve the issue as soon as possible”.
This was swiftly followed by an influx of “conspiracy theories” that suggested hackers were behind the outages, notes Wired.
However, Facebook claims that it has ruled out a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. A DDoS attack involves hackers using computer networks they control to submit “a large number of requests for information from websites” to overwhelm servers with a barrage of “traffic”, making them unreachable to the public, the Evening Standard says.
The true cause of the outage is still unknown and Facebook says it is continuing its investigation.
Are they back online now?
Almost. Instagram announced on Twitter earlier this morning that it resolved its issues, along with a gif of Oprah Winfrey screaming.
Facebook and WhatsApp also appear to be functioning for those in Europe and North America, although the two companies have yet to confirm that their services are up and running.
However, users in Paraguay, India, Bangladesh and Argentina are still experiencing problems with WhatsApp, according to The Verge.
Has this happened before?
Yes. Facebook experienced similar issues in 2008, before the company acquired WhatsApp and Instagram.
The company had only around 150 million people signed up to its service at the time, which pales in comparison to the 2.3 billion monthly users the company sees across its products today.
How did users react?
As expected with a major outage, most users took to Twitter to fill the void with jokes at Facebook’s expense.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 ways to help the environment while on vacation
The Week Recommends An afternoon of planting trees could be the best part of your trip
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
Doctors are taking on dental duties in low-income areas
Under the radar Physicians are biting into the dentistry industry
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Instagram hopes that blurring nudity in messages will make teens safer
The Explainer The option will be turned on by default for users under 18
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Instagram hopes that blurring nudity in messages will make teens safer
The Explainer The option will be turned on by default for users under 18
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
How social media is limiting political content
The Explainer Critics say Meta's 'extraordinary move' to have less politics in users' feeds could be 'actively muzzling civic action'
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Cyberflashing, fake news and the new crimes in the Online Safety Act
The Explainer UK's first conviction demonstrates scope of controversial law that critics describe as a threat to privacy and free speech
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
TikTok predicts 'creative bravery' trends for 2024
talking point Will it be a banner year for the platform, or will it isolate its biggest audience?
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Elon Musk's 'frivolous' but precedent-setting free speech fight with Media Matters
Talking Point The lawsuit is just the latest in Musk's ongoing tension with social media watchdogs
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Twitter's year of Elon Musk: what happens next?
Why Everyone's Talking About 'Your platform is dying', says one commentator, but new CEO is aiming for profitability next year
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
How AI might influence democracy in 2024
The Explainer Threat from bots and deepfakes stalks key elections around the world next year
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Pros and cons of social media content moderation
Pros and Cons Where do you draw the line between online safety and freedom of speech?
By Theara Coleman Published