New Delhi: On Tuesday, March 5, millions of users around the world were unable to access Facebook, Instagram, and other Meta platforms for several hours. The outage, which started around 3:30 pm GMT, caused widespread frustration and confusion among users, who reported being logged out of their accounts, unable to refresh their feeds, and unable to use some features such as reels and stories.
Many users feared that their accounts had been hacked or compromised, and took to Twitter to share their concerns and complaints. Some celebrities, such as actress Sonal Chauhan, also joined the conversation on Twitter after a long hiatus. According to the website Down Detector, which tracks online service disruptions, Facebook received more than half a million reports of problems during the outage.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, acknowledged the issue and apologized for the inconvenience. Andy Stone, the communications director of Meta, said that the outage was caused by a technical issue, but did not provide any further details. He wrote on Twitter: “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.”
The outage also affected some third-party apps and websites that use Facebook login, such as Spotify and Tinder. However, WhatsApp, another Meta-owned app, did not seem to experience any disruption. The outage lasted for about an hour and a half before the services were restored for most users.
This is not the first time that Meta platforms have faced a major outage. In October 2021, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger were down for nearly six hours due to a configuration error that erased Meta’s internet presence. That outage was considered one of the worst in internet history and cost Meta an estimated $60 million in lost revenue.
The latest outage also comes at a time when Meta is facing intense scrutiny and criticism from regulators, lawmakers, activists, and whistleblowers over its impact on society, democracy, privacy, and mental health. Meta recently announced that it was rebranding itself as Meta and focusing on building the metaverse, a virtual reality platform that aims to create a more immersive and connected online experience.
