Meta social media outage disrupts access to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp

Meta announced a technical issue on Wednesday afternoon that affected access to the tech company’s apps. The company owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, Meta said the issue was affecting some users’ ability to access apps. The company said it is working to restore access as quickly as possible.

According to the website Downdetector, reports of Facebook outages skyrocketed on Wednesday, with more than 100,000 outages reported around midday. As of 1:45 p.m., fewer than 19,000 outages had been reported on the site.

Instagram saw a similar increase, reaching nearly 70,000 outage reports by midday. Downdetector data shows reports also fell to fewer than 19,000 by 1:45 p.m.

It is not immediately clear what caused the outage, and the company has not disclosed how long the disruptions are expected to last.

In March there was an outage lasting several hours on the meta platforms Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Messenger. According to the Associated Press, users were unable to log in or refresh feeds.