Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp experienced an outage due to issues at Meta.

      Meta experienced a difficult Friday morning, as a significant outage affected Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger for users globally, beginning just before 10 am ET. By midday, some recovery was observed, though it varied by region.

      The issues seemed to initiate on WhatsApp, later expanding to other platforms. Facebook users were unexpectedly logged out, receiving messages like “Query Error” or “Sorry, something went wrong,” and many could not log back in. Some users could access the app but were unable to post, comment, react, search, or load Stories and Marketplace.

      Insights from Down Detector

      The outage-tracking site Down Detector reported a sharp increase in complaints. Facebook experienced the most significant impact, with over 130,000 reports; Instagram had around 9,500, while WhatsApp received significantly fewer. Across the three platforms, most users reported issues with the app and then with login.

      These figures are self-reported, indicating complaints rather than Meta’s internal data. However, reports were noted from countries beyond the US, including the Philippines, Taiwan, Australia, Spain, and South Africa, suggesting a central problem rather than a localized issue.

      Impact on Businesses

      Business operations were also disrupted. Meta’s status page indicated “high disruptions” across its business services, including Facebook Ads Manager, the Messenger Platform, the Messenger API for Instagram, and the WhatsApp Business Platform. Advertisers faced difficulties creating or editing ads, and Meta expressed apologies for the inconvenience, particularly on a Friday.

      Meta Addresses the Disruption, But Not the Cause

      Meta confirmed the outage on its status page, noting “high disruptions” and stating that its engineering teams were “actively working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.” However, it did not disclose the cause of the outage or how many users were affected.

      No indication has been given yet as to whether the issue stemmed from a configuration error, an infrastructure failure, or something else entirely.

      Recovery was underway, with Meta marking certain services, including ad delivery, as resolved and others “in the process of being restored.” On the consumer end, Facebook's functionality was returning closer to normal, and reports to Down Detector were decreasing, although some users still encountered an empty Stories bar, an outdated feed, or a “Try Again” error.

      The scale of the issue is significant: Meta’s applications serve billions of users, and even a brief period offline can have widespread repercussions across messaging, business activities, and logins beyond just the news feed. This incident capped off a noteworthy day for Meta, which had earlier announced the provision of free AI glasses to every blind US veteran. This story is still developing, and updates will include further explanations from Meta when available.