Are Facebook and Instagram down? What to know about the Meta outage

Widespread outages began Friday morning, affecting Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. Problems across Meta-owned apps started at 10:15 am ET, and Meta has not yet explained what is causing the disruption. Downdetector shows more than 80,000 reports of problems with Facebook, while Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp also have spikes in user complaints.

Experiences varied: the Facebook mobile app worked for some while the desktop site returned an error; Instagram showed an endless loading screen; and Messenger messages were slow to send and receive. These separate products often depend on shared infrastructure, so large outages affect users unevenly depending on region, device and other factors.

Some users reported trouble logging in, while others experienced slow loading, blank screens, error messages, or trouble using features. Meta has not confirmed the cause.

meta, facebook, instagram, messenger, whatsapp, outage, downdetector, error messages, login issues, shared infrastructure