Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users have reported difficulties reaching them due to global service outages.
Meta, which owns the apps, said on its website: “We are aware that there is a technical issue affecting some users' ability to access our apps. We are working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.” X.
More than 22,000 people reported issues with Facebook this evening and more than 18,000 people had difficulty using WhatsApp, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.
Issues have been reported with the apps in the UK, parts of Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the US.
The outage began around 1800 GMT on Wednesday, according to DownDector. Its numbers are based on reports of outages and the actual number of users affected may vary widely.
A variety of issues have been reported including not being able to use apps at all or feeds not updating for some users.
“We are aware of some issues with access to WhatsApp. We are actively working on a solution and are starting to see a return to normal for most people. We expect things to return to normal soon,” WhatsApp said.
Meta platforms are some of the most popular platforms in the world. Facebook has more than three billion monthly active users.
The largest outage Meta has seen was in 2021, when founder Mark Zuckerberg apologized for the disruption that occurred.
On that occasion, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram services were down for approximately six hours.
