Meta-owned platforms Instagram and WhatsApp are back online after a mass outage disrupted services globally on Wednesday. The issue affected users in regions including the UK, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the US, with over 22,000 reports of Facebook-related issues and more than 18,000 WhatsApp problems, according to outage-tracking site Downdetector.
Meta addressed the situation on X, acknowledging the disruption and assuring users that the services were nearly restored. “Thanks for bearing with us! We’re 99% of the way there – just doing some last checks,” the company said. Both WhatsApp and Instagram later confirmed their services had resumed, with WhatsApp posting, “And we’re back, happy chatting!” and Instagram thanking users for their patience.
The outage, which began around 18:00 GMT, caused a variety of issues, including problems accessing the apps and feeds not refreshing for some users. Meta confirmed it was aware of a “technical issue” and worked swiftly to resolve it.
This outage follows a similar incident in 2021, when Meta’s services, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, were down for nearly six hours, prompting an apology from CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
