Facebook and its associated applications WhatsApp and Instagram reported loading issues as thousands across the world complained outages.
The social media apps started displaying error messages at around 15:45 GMT (8:45pm PST), users reported.
More than 50,000 users reported issues with WahtsApp, Facebook and Instagram on downdetector, an outage tracking website.
Downdetector tracks outages by collating status reports from a series of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform. The outages could have affected a larger number of users.
Also read: Facebook services down for thousands of users
A Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) spokesperson said in a tweet that Facebook services –Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus – have been affected internationally due to an outage. “Further details are being collected,” he added.
Facebook services (Facebook, #Instagram, #WhatsApp, Oculus) have been affected internationally due to an outage. Further details are being collected: PTA Spokesperson
— PTA (@PTAofficialpk) October 4, 2021
Outages are not uncommon for apps, but to have so many interconnected apps at the world’s largest social media company go down at the same time is rare, the New York Times reported.
“We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologise for any inconvenience,” Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesman, posted on Twitter.
We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) October 4, 2021
We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.
— Facebook (@Facebook) October 4, 2021
A similar message confirming the outage also was posted on WhatsApp’s Twitter account.
We’re aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp 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!
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) October 4, 2021
According to the NYT report, Facebook has already been dealing with plenty of scrutiny. The company has been under fire from a whistle-blower, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager who amassed thousands of pages of internal research and has since distributed them to the news media, lawmakers and regulators. The documents revealed that Facebook knew of many harms that its services were causing.
BREAKING: Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram all down since 11:41 am ET
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) October 4, 2021
Facebook did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Reuters and AFP news agencies on the outage.
The error message on Facebook’s webpage suggested a Domain Name System (DNS) error, Reuters reported.
In an apparent bid to mock the rival social media platforms, Twitter said “hello literally everyone” in a tweet.
To which WhatsApp responded with a “hello” and a waving hand emoji.
Senior journalist Wusat Ullah Khan posted a rather interesting poll on the current situation on Twitter. “Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have been down for the past hour. How you are feeling? a) Peaceful b) Enjoying it c) Life has come to halt,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.
فیس بُک ، انسٹا گرام اور واٹس ایپ گزشتہ ایک گھنٹے سے ڈاؤن ہے ۔ آپ کیسا محسوس کر رہے ہیں؟#WhatsApp #Facebook #instagramdown
— Wusat Ullah Khan (@WusatUllahKhan) October 4, 2021
This will be updated…
