A widespread outage has hit Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Threads, leaving millions of users worldwide in a digital standstill since the morning of Super Tuesday.
“We’re aware people are having trouble accessing our services. We are working on this now,” said Andy Stone, director of communications at Meta Platforms.
We’re aware people are having trouble accessing our services. We are working on this now.
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) March 5, 2024
The outage, first reported shortly after 9 a.m., has been confirmed by DownDetector, a website that tracks user reports of outages and service disruptions.
The issues are related to how users log in and span multiple countries. Many users have been logged out of their accounts, and the outage appears to be global, with problems being reported across the world.
Experts at two organizations that monitor internet traffic, Kentik, and NetBlocks, have confirmed that Meta’s various companies are experiencing a major drop in traffic. This suggests that the outage is not just affecting a few isolated areas but is a widespread problem affecting users globally.
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Meta’s own status page, which gives updates on which of the company’s products are experiencing outages, didn’t load Tuesday morning. This has left users in the dark about when they can expect the services to be restored.
“We’re aware people are having trouble accessing our services,” added Andy Stone, communications director for Meta. “We are working on this now.”
In a recent update, Meta’s spokesperson, Andy Stone, tweeted, ‘Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have trouble accessing some of our services. We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologize for any inconvenience.’
Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services. We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologize for any inconvenience. https://t.co/ybyyAZNAMn
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) March 5, 2024
This outage could potentially impact major political campaigns, especially on Super Tuesday, when five states vote in elections for Senate, House, governor, and other local offices. The timing of the outage could not have been worse, as many political campaigns rely heavily on social media for outreach and communication.
While intermittent disruptions of even major websites are often due to a configuration issue and are usually quickly solved, the scale and duration of this outage suggest that the problem might be more complex. As of now, users are advised to stay updated with the latest news for the most accurate information.
The outage has once again raised questions about the reliability of major tech companies and the central role they play in our daily lives. As we wait for more information, one thing is clear today’s outage has highlighted just how much we rely on these platforms and how disruptive it can be when they go down.
Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story. This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available. Please stay tuned to the latest news for the most accurate information.
