Instagram and Facebook experienced a worldwide outage on Friday afternoon, leaving thousands of users unable to access the apps. According to Down Detector, issues began shortly after 2:30pm, with over 20,000 problems reported.
Of the complaints, 17,000 were related to Facebook and 3,000 to Instagram. Instagram users reported difficulties with the app (68%), login issues (12%), and server connection problems (10%). Many noted that while the main feed loaded, Stories and direct messages failed.
Facebook users also faced disruptions, with over half reporting app issues and a third unable to log in. Facebook Messenger was also affected. Users took to other platforms to express frustration, with one asking, “Have I been hacked on Facebook or what?”
The cause of the outage remains unclear. Services appeared to return to normal by 3:15pm. Neither Meta nor Instagram have issued a statement on their official social media accounts.
