Meta Platforms announced on Friday that it had restored services on Facebook and Instagram after users experienced disruptions lasting over two hours.
At the peak of the outage, reports indicated that nearly 20,000 users were struggling to access Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, according to the outage monitoring site Downdetector.com.
Shortly after users began reporting issues, Meta took to Twitter to inform the public that it was addressing the technical difficulties.
We know some of you might be experiencing issues with our apps today.
We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience. 🙏
— Meta (@Meta) June 16, 2023
By 6:30 PM ET (4:00 AM IST, Saturday), outage reports had decreased to fewer than 500, as indicated by Downdetector.
Downdetector collects outage data from multiple sources, including user-reported issues, suggesting that the impact on users may have been broader than reflected in the report.
Additionally, issues related to Meta’s Ads Manager, which facilitates Facebook ad creation and management for brands, were also resolved, according to the company.
Fixed! The issue has been resolved and things should be working normally again across our apps. Thanks again for your patience.
— Meta (@Meta) June 16, 2023
Notably, the outage did not seem to impact users in India, where many reported that Facebook and Instagram services were functioning smoothly.
In other developments, Meta has recently reversed a policy aimed at combatting misinformation related to COVID-19 on its platforms. Throughout the pandemic, social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter faced significant scrutiny over their handling of false information about vaccines and other health-related topics, leading to the implementation of strict measures.
In July of last year, Meta consulted its independent oversight board regarding potential changes to its approach, citing improved access to reliable information and increased public awareness about COVID-19.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
