Global Outage Hits Meta Platforms
On Wednesday, Meta platforms Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram experienced a widespread outage, impacting users globally. Reports of app malfunction started surfacing around 2 p.m. ET, causing inconvenience to countless users.
Sequential Disruption
Initially, WhatsApp faced connectivity issues, followed by Instagram and Facebook encountering similar problems approximately 30 minutes later. The most affected feature across these platforms appeared to be image and media uploads, as highlighted by the internet monitoring service Netblocks. Notably, there were no signs of country-specific disruptions or filtering amidst this widespread outage.
Meta’s Status Update
Meta’s status and outage update page revealed significant disruptions in Instagram’s Messenger API, Messenger Platform, WhatsApp Business API, and the Ads Transparency tool. While the Ads Manager also experienced disruptions, the severity varied across these services. Such widespread technical issues are rare but not unprecedented for social media platforms, with recent outages plaguing popular platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
During the outage, some WhatsApp users could still send messages; however, delivery of these messages was hindered, according to reports from The Verge. As news of Meta’s platform struggles circulated, certain users expressed jubilation over the inconvenience faced by the tech giant.
Official Response
Meta has yet to provide an official response to the outage. However, the official Twitter account for WhatsApp acknowledged the issues, pledging to resolve them swiftly. Despite the lack of a concrete timeline for the restoration of services, efforts are being made to ensure operational efficiency across the affected platforms. Gizmodo remains vigilant for any updates on this developing situation.
This disruption, although temporary, underscores the dependence of modern societies on digital platforms for communication and connectivity. As technology continues to advance, resilience to such outages through robust contingency measures becomes imperative for tech companies.
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