Facebook and Instagram Users Report Widespread Access Issues

Users of Facebook and Instagram faced difficulties accessing the platforms early Sunday morning. Facebook displayed a message that said accounts were ‘temporarily unavailable.’

According to Downdetector, a live outage tracker, the problems began around 3:25 a.m. ET, with thousands encountering issues in the United States. Instagram users also reported problems around this time. Facebook and Instagram are owned by Meta.

Your account is currently unavailable due to a site issue. We expect this to be resolved shortly. Please try again in a few minutes.

This message appeared on Facebook as users from Canada, Mexico, India, the UK, and other parts of Europe also reported issues.

A pattern has emerged where some users found Facebook accessible on mobile devices but not on desktop browsers. Downdetector noted that 63% of reports were related to the website, while 20% involved mobile devices and 10% pertained to the app.

On Reddit, one user reported initially seeing an error message saying ‘You’ve been temporarily banned’ before being redirected to a generic error page. Another saw a message of being blocked for ‘going too fast and overusing,’ despite only refreshing the page to check platform functionality. Others reported similar issues.

Instagram and WhatsApp Issues

Reports of problems with Instagram are rising, according to Downdetector. The site indicates that 44% of issues related to the Feed or Timeline, 40% involved the app, and 12% concerned posting content. Users described difficulties loading feeds, sending messages, and viewing stories, along with encountering error messages.

WhatsApp also showed reports of issues. Downdetector states 44% related to messaging, 39% to the app, and 8% to login problems. The volume of WhatsApp reports appears lower than Facebook’s, suggesting the disruption there is more limited.

Meta’s History of Service Disruption

Meta has seen several significant service disruptions recently. In October 2021, a nearly six-hour global outage impacted Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. That incident was attributed to a faulty configuration change in network infrastructure.

In March 2024, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp experienced a widespread outage. Users faced login issues, and Instagram feeds failed to refresh. Meta later referred to the disruption as a technical issue but did not offer detailed causation.

Current problems focus primarily on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. There are no reported issues of similar scale with Threads or other platforms like Meta Quest.

Possible Cause of Disruption

Christine Harrison, a digital designer, mentioned analysts suspect an issue during a major system update to Facebook might be responsible. An analyst noted that Meta had informed certain regions of a planned update earlier in the morning. A glitch during this update could be the cause, though Meta hasn’t confirmed these details.

Newsweek has reached out to Meta via email, asking if the company is aware of the widespread issues, whether a cause has been identified, and if there’s an estimated resolution time.