On Sunday, July 19, 2026, Facebook users encountered widespread problems logging into the social networking site. Thousands reported being unable to access their accounts, with an error message stating: "Account Temporarily Unavailable. Your account is currently unavailable due to a site issue. We expect this to be resolved shortly. Please try again in a few minutes."
Outage Reports Surge on DownDetector
According to outage tracking website DownDetector, reports began spiking around 9 AM BST, with over 5,000 complaints logged at 8:58 AM. Issues were not limited to Facebook; users also reported problems with Facebook Messenger and Instagram, both owned by parent company Meta. The outage appeared to affect users globally, with the main source of complaints being the Facebook website rather than the mobile app.
By approximately 10:15 AM, the site seemed to be functioning again for many affected users. However, some continued to experience difficulties.
User Reactions and Workarounds
Several users took to DownDetector to share their experiences. One user posted just after 10 AM: "Facebook loads on phone but not on my laptop. Keep getting account temporarily unavailable etc. Working on phone, just not on laptop. Seems it's quite a widespread problem." Another echoed: "I can't open my account, says temporarily unavailable due to site issues, try later."
A third user noted: "Same here but works on mobile." Similarly, an Instagram user complained at approximately 10 AM: "Unable to send message and post not uploading."
Impact on Social Media Access
The outage highlighted a discrepancy between web and app access, with many users able to log in via mobile apps but not through desktop browsers. Meta has not yet released an official statement regarding the cause of the outage. This incident follows previous service disruptions for Meta platforms, which have occasionally left millions of users unable to access their accounts for hours.
