On Wednesday, users of Meta Platforms Inc.'s family of apps, including Facebook and Instagram, experienced widespread outages. The issues began around 9:57 a.m. PST and impacted core apps such as Threads, WhatsApp, and Messenger, as reported by users on Downdetector.
At around 10:11 a.m. PST, more than 100,000 users encountered problems with the Facebook service, marking the peak of the outages according to Downdetector. Meta acknowledged the outage via posts on social media site X, stating that they were aware of a technical issue affecting users' ability to access their apps and were working to resolve the issue quickly.
A separate post on X specifically addressed the Instagram outage, recognizing the technical issue affecting users' access to the platform. This is not the first time Meta's apps have experienced outages, as a similar incident occurred in March 2024, coinciding with Super Tuesday U.S. presidential primaries.
In response to the outage, Meta apologized for any inconvenience caused and assured users that they were working to restore normal service as soon as possible. The company's previous outage in March 2024 lasted approximately two hours.
The outage of Meta's apps comes amidst ongoing discussions surrounding the potential ban of TikTok in the U.S., with concerns raised about potential retaliation from China targeting companies such as Tesla and Apple. Gene Munster of Deepwater highlighted the potential risks involved in such actions.