UPDATE 12:27pm: The situation appears to have been resolved for most users and Meta is actively tackling the outage.
Think your Meta account has been hacked? Well, this may be slightly better news. In a quick turn of events, countless users found themselves abruptly logged out and unable to access their favorite social media platforms. As of posting time at 10:30am, Meta’s powerhouse platforms, Facebook and Instagram, are experiencing widespread outages, leaving millions of users in the lurch and searching for answers.
Many users immediately thought the worst, that they had been hacked and locked out of their own accounts.
Understanding the Scope of the Outage
Early this morning, reports began surfacing of Facebook and Instagram users facing “failure to load” error messages. These reports weren’t isolated incidents but rather indications of a larger problem affecting users worldwide. According to DownDetector, a real-time problem and outage monitoring website, over 76,000 incidents of outages were reported by 10:30 a.m. The issues seem to span beyond just website access, with mobile applications for both platforms also falling victim to the outage.
The Impact on Users and Businesses
The sudden unavailability of Facebook and Instagram has far-reaching implications. For the average user, it’s a frustrating interruption of their social media routine. However, for businesses and content creators who rely on these platforms for marketing and engagement, the stakes are significantly higher. The outage disrupts planned campaigns, scheduled posts, and, more critically, engagement with their audience.
The TechBomb team has reached out to Meta for comment, and will update as we hear back.
What to Do
The current outage affecting Facebook and Instagram underscores the vulnerability of even the most robust digital platforms. It’s a reminder of the importance of having backup plans and the value of diversifying the social media platforms we rely on.
And there’s nothing like a hacking scare as a motivation to update to a strong password, and activate two-factor authentication once you get your access back.
