Facebook WhatsApp and Instagram are apparently facing outages and many users are unable to use the platforms
DownDetector reports a quick spike in the number of cases of WhatsApp not working for people across regions on October 4. Users are unable to send or receive new messages. Similar behaviour is observable on Instagram, where users are unable to log in, refresh their feed or send direct messages (DMs). The issue has seemingly affected people late in the evening, with outage starting at roughly 9:15 pm IST.
The servers continue to remain down at the time of writing this article and Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are currently inaccessible. Users are requested to use alternate methods of messaging like Signal and Telegram until the apps start working again.
This is not the first time apps like WhatsApp have crashed. A similar outage was observed back in March 2021.
Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp services have all gone down on Monday in what marks an apparent worldwide outage for many users.
All three of the services saw a spike in late mid-morning outages across their apps and websites, according to the DownDetector website, which tracks internet service outages. Nearly 112,000 outages have been reported on Facebook, over 92,000 outages on Instagram, and nearly 30,000 outages on WhatsApp, DownDetector said.
“We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products,” Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said on Twitter. “We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.”
WhatsApp said on Twitter it is “aware that some people are experiencing issues with” the application “at the moment”.
“We’re working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!” said the company.
Instagram and Facebook were the number one trending topic in the US on Twitter.
The outage’s cause remains unclear.