Millions of users in India and around the world are facing problems accessing popular social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, all owned by Meta, in a widespread outage that began on Tuesday, March 5th.
Reports on DownDetector, a website that tracks online outages, showed a surge in complaints starting around 10:20 AM Eastern Time (7:50 PM IST). Users reported being unable to log in, with some even claiming to be logged out of their accounts.
The outage appears to be affecting all aspects of the platforms, including the apps and websites. While the exact cause of the outage is yet to be determined, some sources within Meta claim that the company’s internal systems are also down, potentially contributing to the issue.
Instagram, Facebook down globally, users urged to ‘log in again’
Social media platforms Facebook and Instagram were down in India and many other parts of the world Tuesday evening. Users complained about log in issues on both these platforms. They were logged out of both Facebook and Instagram. Some were unable to refresh Instagram pages. Many users were also asked to change passwords. Soon after, YouTube users also started facing a similar issue.
Outage tracking website Downdetector.com also revealed that Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Instagram were down for tens of thousands of users on Tuesday. There were more than 300,000 reports of outages for Facebook, while there were more than 20,000 reports for Instagram, according to the website which tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources, including users.
While Meta hasn’t yet officially addressed the outage on its social media platforms, users have taken to alternative platforms like X (formerly Twitter) to express their concerns and share memes about the situation.
Facebook, Instagram Down
Social media users worldwide were met with frustration as popular platforms owned by Meta, including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and others, experienced widespread outages, including in India. Users reported being abruptly logged out of their accounts and encountering difficulties while using the platforms. Many users also facing issues with the Meta-owned instant messaging application WhatsApp as well.
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It’s important to note that WhatsApp, another Meta-owned platform, seems to be functioning normally as of now.
This story is still developing, and we will update it as soon as more information becomes available.