Reports are flooding in indicating a significant outage across Meta’s top social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, on Tuesday morning.
Users attempting to access these platforms are encountering error messages, with some redirected to a logged-out landing page on Facebook, unable to sign in despite using the correct credentials.
The disruptions seem to have commenced after 10 AM ET on Tuesday, as reported on social media and user-submitted issue trackers like DownDetector. However, Meta’s official status page primarily focuses on the status of its business products, such as Ads Manager, rather than the platforms as a whole. Although Meta communications director Andy Stone acknowledged the outage in a post on X, stating, “We’re aware people are having trouble accessing our services. We are working on this now.”
We're aware people are having trouble accessing our services. We are working on this now.
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) March 5, 2024
Given the size and scale of Meta’s network, experiencing such a widespread outage is highly unusual and raises suspicions about its origins. The timing of the outage, coinciding with Super Tuesday across several U.S. states, raises concerns, particularly for candidates and political organizations relying on these platforms for last-minute voter outreach efforts.
Meta’s suite of apps plays a significant role during election cycles, with its family of apps, including WhatsApp, boasting 3.98 million monthly active users as of last year. To mitigate potential influence on election outcomes, Meta disabled political ads leading up to key elections, such as the U.S. midterms. Additionally, Meta announced plans to label political ads with AI-generated imagery for the 2024 election cycle.
Although Meta operates its data centers, potentially contributing to the outage, Amazon’s Web Services (AWS) currently reports no recent issues. Despite sporadic reports of issues with other platforms like YouTube and X (formerly Twitter), these platforms appear to be functioning normally.
Notably, X CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed that X was not experiencing any issues and humorously quipped about the situation. Meanwhile, X owner Elon Musk added a lighthearted touch by posting a meme about the outage.
If you’re reading this post, it’s because our servers are working
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2024
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2024
The ramifications of the outage extend beyond consumer-facing apps, as Meta employees have reported difficulties accessing work-related platforms on X. Concerns arise about the possibility of hacking, reminiscent of past incidents where Meta faced security breaches.
As the outage persists, speculation continues about its cause and implications for both users and the broader digital landscape. For now, users and observers await further updates from Meta regarding the resolution of the issue and any insights into its root cause.
By Noel Nortei.
