WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram down: Meta platforms face major outage affecting users globally

tech.hindustantimes.com:

WhatsApp down: Meta's range of social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Messenger, and WhatsApp, have been hit with a global outage, prominently affecting users in India and the US. The surge in outage reports began shortly before 11 pm IST, as tracked by Downdetector.com, highlighting a broad spectrum of issues ranging from complete inaccessibility to slow loading times and posting errors.

Users in India and US affected

Facebook and Instagram seem to be the most severely impacted by this technical hiccup. In the US, more than 97,000 users have reported difficulties with accessing the app and website of Facebook, while Instagram has seen around 72,000 complaints. The situation in India mirrors this with approximately 31,000 users struggling with Instagram access, and a peak of 30,500 reports for WhatsApp being down.

WhatsApp has also been significantly affected, with around 12,000 American users reporting issues with accessing the platform on their mobile devices. The common complaints include the inability to send or receive messages, with some users noticing that all posts on Facebook display zero comments, hinting at a possible malfunction in the comment system.

With no immediate official statement from Meta regarding the cause or expected resolution time of this outage, users have taken to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express their frustrations and share memes, creating a buzz around the unexpected downtime.

Interestingly, this isn't the first time this year that Meta's services have faced such widespread disruptions. Earlier in March 2024, both Instagram and Facebook experienced a notable outage, where users worldwide encountered glitches, leading to a flurry of activity on X with users sharing their experiences through screenshots and posts.

While Meta remains silent on specifics, there are signs that services are gradually recovering for some users, nearly an hour following the initial spike in outage reports. This recovery is sporadic,