The Latest: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp Outages Affect Billions Worldwide Social media users went into panic mode Monday afternoon upon finding out that that Facebook, Instagram and international messaging app WhatsApp had all crashed.
By Emily Rella Edited by Jessica Thomas
Social media users went into panic mode Monday afternoon upon finding out that Facebook, Instagram and international messaging app WhatsApp had all crashed.
According to DownDetector, which collects data from users reporting outages with specific websites and apps, an estimated 125,444 users reported outages by noon.
Instagram had a reported 94,559 outages with WhatsApp following behind with 33,838 reports at the same time.
According to USA Today, the outage affects nearly 7 billion users between the three platforms.
"Reports indicate there may be a widespread outage at Facebook, which may be impacting your service," a banner on the top of the webpage read.
When trying to reach Facebook via browser, users are greeted with a domain error message, whereas Instagram and WhatsApp are not loading new posts or allowing for new searches.
Facebook (ironically) posted a message to users using another social media platform, Twitter, at 12:22 on Monday afternoon.
"We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products," the company wrote from its official account. "We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience."
We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.
— Facebook (@Facebook) October 4, 2021
Instagram's PR team posted a similar message to the official Instagram Comms Twitter account.
"Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them," the tweet read. "Bear with us, we're on it! #instagramdown."
Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we're on it! #instagramdown
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) October 4, 2021
There was no update on the outages as of 1:20 p.m. Monday.
