WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram DOWN: Outage leaves thousands of users frustrated

WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram down: All three major platforms of Meta, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram are experiencing major outages in the US, as per reports. More than 13,000 users of these apps have reported various issues with accessing the apps and the web interface. The issue has affected the users in the US region and has not affected the rest of the regions, based on the information. 

According to Downdetector.com, more than 13,000 Instagram users are unable to access the platform, whereas the outages have also affected 5,400 Facebook users and 1,870 WhatsApp users as well. For Facebook, 66 percent of the reports were concerning the website, while 23 percent highlighted issues in accessing the app. Another 11 percent reported server-based issues. 

It should be noted that Downdetector is an online outage monitor and it tracks outages by aggregating reports from multiple sources. Users can also self-report issues on the platform itself. However, this means the total number of affected individuals from this outage can be much higher than reported. 

WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram face outages

As per the reports, the issue first began appearing at 3:19 AM IST (2:49 PM PT). Within half an hour, the outage peaked for all three platforms. 

On Instagram, 62 percent of the users reported issues with the app, while 19 percent of the users were unable to access the website. About 18 percent claimed they faced issues connecting to the server. 

Similarly, Downdetector reveals that 49 percent of reports for WhatsApp were around app usage and 27 percent of the issues were concerning server connections. Another 24 percent faced challenges connecting to the website. 

The issue appears to have been resolved now, and the number of reports on the outage monitoring website has almost flatlined. At the moment, it is not known what caused all three Meta platforms to go down simultaneously. 

Interestingly, Threads, the newest platform of Meta, which recently crossed 100 million users, did not face any major outages. Downdetector did show a small spike of about 500 reports at the same time when other Meta apps were facing issues, but it was minor and briefly existed. This is particularly interesting since Threads is powered by Instagram and combines the data between the two apps.