On Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at 6:14 PM GMT+2, significant login issues were reported across Meta’s suite of social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Messenger, signaling a major outage affecting users worldwide. The Meta logo, previously showcased at the Vivatech event in Paris on June 14, 2023, symbolizes the company currently under scrutiny due to this disruption
The site www.metastatus.com, which tracks the condition of services across Meta’s platform, showed “major disruptions” to tools like Ads Manager, Facebook & Instagram Shops, and Meta Business Suite, WhatsApp Business API and Messenger API, but surprisingly indicated “no known issues” for Messenger, despite massive reports to the contrary.
According to a recent analyst report by Meta Platforms, Inc., the technical difficulties have hindered access for many, leaving users unable to sign into their accounts or refresh their feeds, particularly on Instagram and Threads. Notably, WhatsApp, another Meta-owned service, was reportedly unaffected by the outage early in the day.
Netblocks, a London-based organization monitoring internet accessibility, confirmed that the issues were observed across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Threads in several countries. “The firm, known for its advocacy for free and open internet access, clarified that there were no signs of government-imposed internet restrictions or filtering contributing to the outage.”
Meta’s head of communications, Andy Stone, recognized the widespread problems through a statement on the platform formerly known as Twitter, assuring the public that efforts were underway to resolve the issues promptly.
Matthew Green, a cybersecurity expert and associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute, suggested that the outage might extend beyond Meta’s platforms. He noted that various online services were encountering difficulties, particularly with login functionalities, hinting at a potential underlying issue with a major cloud service provider.
The precise cause of the outage remains unclear, highlighting the interconnected nature of modern digital services and the cascading effects that can arise from disruptions within them.
Were you logged out of your Facebook, Messenger, Threads, or Instagram account Tuesday morning? You’re not alone.
Around 10 a.m. reports began surfacing of users being completely logged out of all Meta accounts. It quickly became apparent this was a widespread issue, with seemingly nobody able to successfully use their Meta account.
The real-time problem and outage monitoring website DownDetector showed nearly 400,000 people reporting Facebook issues by 10:45 a.m. By 11:45 a.m., Facebook had returned for some users, but Instagram and Threads were still down.
