Meta’s WhatsApp and Instagram Services Restored After Global Outages

Instagram and WhatsApp have resumed operations online following a widespread global service disruption that impacted multiple applications owned by Meta on Wednesday. Confirmation is still pending from Facebook regarding the full resolution of its own issues. Meta, the parent company of the applications, posted on X: “Thanks for bearing with us! We’re 99% of the way there – just doing some last checks. We apologize to those who’ve been affected by the outage.” Data from the outage-tracking website Downdetector indicated that more than 22,000 individuals reported problems with Facebook on Wednesday evening, while over 18,000 encountered difficulties using WhatsApp. Reports of application issues originated from the UK, various regions of Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the US. WhatsApp announced on X, stating, “And we’re back, happy chatting!” Instagram also posted, “Andddd we’re back – sorry for the wait, and thanks for bearing with us.” Downdetector reported that the service disruptions commenced approximately at 18:00 GMT on Wednesday. The site also noted that its figures are derived from outage reports, and the true number of users impacted could differ significantly. Shortly after users began reporting problems, Meta acknowledged a “technical issue” that was “impacting some users’ ability to access our apps” and stated its efforts to resolve the situation promptly. The reported problems encompassed a range of issues, such as complete inaccessibility of the applications or feeds failing to refresh for specific users. Around the same period, WhatsApp communicated: “We’re aware of some issues accessing WhatsApp. We’re actively working on a solution and starting to see a return to normal for most people. We expect things to be back to normal shortly.” Meta’s platforms rank among the most widely used globally. Facebook alone boasts more than three billion active monthly users. The most significant service disruption experienced by Meta occurred in 2021, at which time founder Mark Zuckerberg issued an apology for the inconvenience. During that prior incident, services for Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram were unavailable for nearly six hours. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding our policy on external linking is available.