Facebook, Instagram hit by major global outage

Meta ↗1.70% platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger went down Friday morning, with over 100,000 users reporting issues on Downdetector.elpasotimes
Users were logged out and encountered error messages, while Meta’s status page showed “high disruptions” for Facebook Ads Manager.elpasotimes
Meta said engineering teams were “actively looking to resolve the issue” but offered no cause or timeline for full restoration.elpasotimes

Meta Platforms Hit by Major Global Outage Affecting Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp

Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp went down for users around the world on Friday morning, with more than 100,000 people reporting problems on outage-tracking site Downdetector as Meta scrambled to restore service.

Widespread Disruptions

The outage began in the early morning hours and escalated rapidly, with users across multiple continents reporting they had been logged out of their accounts and were unable to log back in. By 9 a.m. Eastern Time, Downdetector recorded more than 100,000 user reports of issues with Facebook alone, while nearly 10,000 Instagram users also flagged problems with the app and logging in.elpasotimes

Users encountered error messages including “something went wrong” and “query error,” along with blank feeds and failed content loading. Meta’s status website indicated “high disruptions” for its Facebook Ads Manager, and the company’s engineering teams acknowledged they were “aware and are actively looking to resolve the issue as quickly as possible”.reddit

Meta’s Response

Meta’s VP of Communications Andy Stone acknowledged the disruption in a statement consistent with those the company has issued during previous outages, telling users the company was aware people were “having trouble accessing our services” and that engineers were working to fix it. No cause for the outage or timeline for full restoration was provided as of late Friday morning.fox4news

A Recurring Pattern

The disruption marks the latest in a series of outages that have plagued Meta’s platforms in recent years. In December 2024, a similar incident generated over 100,000 Downdetector reports and took roughly five hours to resolve. In March 2024, more than 500,000 Facebook users reported problems after being logged out and shown incorrect-password errors. Meta experienced at least 12 outage incidents in March 2026 alone, according to tracking data.mashable

For the billions of users who rely on Meta’s apps for personal communication and business operations, each outage underscores the fragility of centralized platforms — and the company’s continued reluctance to explain what goes wrong.