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A major outage occurred on Wednesday (December 11) which caused Meta apps and platforms to be unreachable.
Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads were all found to be unusable as the systems struggled to carry out the normal tasks of sending messages, logging in and posting content.
The issue began around 8AM EST time and was greatly reported throughout the UK, but is thought to have affected others worldwide too. The US Downdetector site saw a spike at 1PM EST with just under 110,000 people reporting an issue had happened.
Downdetector shares real-time problem and outage monitoring, with people in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles reporting the issue in high numbers.
The outage was also reported in other countries around the world, including Canada.
What caused the Meta outage affecting its platforms?
As the difficulties swept through numerous accounts, Meta took to X to share an update: “We’re aware that a technical issue is impacting some users’ ability to access our apps. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.”
We’re aware that a technical issue is impacting some users’ ability to access our apps. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.
— Meta (@Meta) December 11, 2024
After the first message was posted by the team at 1:48PM EST, it wasn’t until 5:26PM EST when Meta said “Thanks for bearing with us! We’re 99% of the way there – just doing some last checks. We apologize to those who’ve been affected by the outage.”
The WhatsApp and Instagram accounts on X posted similar messages, with the quick messaging app declaring that they were back up and running despite its responses being filled with people still seeing errors like being unable to use their account.
We’re aware of some issues accessing WhatsApp. We’re actively working on a solution and starting to see a return to normal for most people. We expect things to be back to normal shortly.
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) December 11, 2024
Although Meta were very much aware of the ‘technical issue,’ the company hasn’t issued a more detailed response about how the outage was caused.
It’s not yet known how the error occurred, but the failure impacted many of Meta’s services.
It’s not the first time the company has faced issues like this either, as it suffered an outage in March.
Just a few years ago, in 2021, the technology giant experienced a widespread service outage that lasted for nearly six hours.
Featured Image: AI-generated via Ideogram
