Meta launches global investigation as Facebook, Instagram, Threads face unprecedented outage

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, has initiated a thorough investigation into the widespread outages that have left users worldwide locked out of their accounts. Users experienced unprecedented disruptions across Meta’s platforms, prompting a swift response from the company.

Meta spokesman Andy Stone addressed the issue on Tuesday, stating, “We’re aware people are having trouble accessing our services. We are working on this now,” in a post on X. The DownDetector website reported a staggering peak of around 500,000 outage reports for Facebook at 17:30 (SA time), while Instagram experienced a peak of approximately 70,000 reports at the same time.

Even Threads, introduced as a rival to Twitter in 2023, faced reports of outages during this widespread disruption. Surprisingly, WhatsApp, Meta’s messaging service, appeared to be unaffected by the outage, providing a temporary relief for users relying on the platform.

The gravity of the situation was highlighted by Facebook’s official status page, typically aimed at advertisers, which declared the platform was undergoing “major disruptions,” with engineering teams actively working to resolve the issue urgently.

Facebook users attempting to log in were met with frustration as they were unable to sign in despite using the correct passwords. Meanwhile, on Instagram, mobile users found their feeds failing to refresh, adding to the growing frustration among the user base.

As the world’s largest social media platform, Facebook boasts an impressive three billion active monthly users. Its subsidiary, Instagram, follows closely with around 1.35 billion users, according to the latest available data. The outage raises concerns not only for the affected users but also for Meta, as it navigates the challenges of restoring normalcy to its platforms amidst this unexpected and widespread disruption. The company’s engineering teams are under immense pressure to resolve the issue swiftly and ensure the seamless functioning of their digital ecosystem.