Netblocks, a London-based internet monitoring company, said in X that four Meta platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads – “are currently experiencing access-related outages in several countries.”
The company clarified that there are no signs of “country-scale disruptions or leaks,” which are generally imposed by governments.
“Earlier (this Tuesday), a technical problem prevented users from accessing some of our services. We resolved the problem as quickly as we could for all those affected, and we apologize for the inconvenience caused,” declared the group’s spokesperson, Andy Stone, on the social network X (formerly Twitter), less than an hour after recognizing the problem.
Almost 4 billion people use Meta platforms
The Downdetector site, which records technical failures on digital platforms, counted up to 580,000 reports of problems among Facebook users and up to 92,000 in the case of Instagram.
“We know that there are problems affecting the connection to Facebook. Our engineering teams seek to resolve the problem as quickly as possible,” the Californian group then indicated on its site that reports on possible operating problems, before announcing the solution. the mistake.
Almost 4 billion people use at least one of the social media giant’s platforms (which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp) every month.
On the X network, Meta’s problems generated ironic comments, particularly from the rival company itself.
“If you read this message, it’s because our servers are working,” said Elon Musk, owner of X, ironically.
“We know why everyone is here right now,” the account on that platform added.
The problem occurred during the so-called electoral “Super Tuesday” in the United States, a crucial date for the party primaries for the presidential elections in November, where voters in 15 states and one autonomous territory choose their candidates from the Democratic and Republican Parties to represent them in the struggle. by the White House.
Andy Stone, Meta’s communications director, acknowledged the problems at X, formerly Twitter, and said the company is “working on it now.”
Some users reported that they were blocked from their Facebook accounts and could not log back in. Others said they were experiencing difficulties updating their Threads and Instagram pages. Meanwhile, WhatsApp, which is also owned by Meta, did not appear to have any problems Tuesday morning.
Cybersecurity expert Matthew Green said the disruption appears to go beyond Meta.
“Several other services had problems with at least some parts of their systems, particularly the ability to log into websites,” said Green, an associate professor of computer science and a member of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
“This could indicate a common cause, such as a failure at a major cloud service provider, he noted.
Source: With information from AP and AFP
