Meta Platforms, including Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, experienced a global outage, leaving users unable to access their accounts for several hours. Elon Musk mocked the outage, while Meta apologized and assured users that services were restored.
California (Brussels Morning Newspaper) On Tuesday afternoon, a widespread outage hit Meta Platforms, causing disruptions to its major social media platforms, including Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram. Users around the world reported issues ranging from difficulties logging in to complete unavailability of their news feeds and notifications. Only WhatsApp remained operational during the outage.
The outage, which lasted for several hours, left millions of users unable to access their favorite social networks. Concerns regarding potential hacking attempts arose as some users found themselves unexpectedly logged out of their accounts and unable to authenticate through email codes.
According to reports from Downdetector, a platform for tracking online service outages, the number of complaints surged rapidly, with over 300,000 reports within the first 30 minutes of the outage, placing Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram at the top of the list for service disruptions.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, addressed the issue through its spokesperson Andy Stone, who announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the technical glitch had been resolved and services were restored a little after 6 p.m. Stone apologized for any inconvenience caused by the disruption.
This isn’t the first time Meta has faced such an outage. In May 2023, a similar incident lasted for an hour, causing inconvenience to users worldwide. However, the recent outage seems to have garnered more attention due to its longer duration and impact on multiple platforms simultaneously.
As users struggled to regain access to their accounts and engage with their social circles online, reactions poured in across various platforms. Under the hashtag #InstagramDown, users shared their frustrations and experiences during the outage. Notably, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, seized the opportunity to take a jab at Meta’s services. In a tweet, Musk quipped, “If you are reading this message, it is because our servers are working,” poking fun at Meta’s downtime.
In a similar vein, Linda Yaccarino, X’s director of advertising and partnerships, commented on the situation, stating, “Tests, tests… affirmative, everything works well here,” suggesting that competitors were unaffected by the outage.
While Meta has restored its services and operations are back to normal, the outage serves as a reminder of the vulnerabilities inherent in relying heavily on digital platforms for communication and connectivity. Users are advised to stay vigilant and report any suspicious activities following such incidents.
