At around 9.20 pm on Monday, October 4, users across the world reported that they were not able to use Facebook or its WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook. When trying to open WhatsApp, a pop-up message read “Error 5xx”, which means that a problem is likely to have occurred with the platform’s server.
The outage was reportedly caused by a DNS server issue. Downdetector saw a massive spike in reports on the outage, with over 18,349 people facing issues with WhatsApp. Over 12,738 people reported problems while opening Instagram, while over 4,229 people said they were having issues with accessing Facebook.
The social media platforms took to Twitter to officially announce the outage. “We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience,” Facebook said on its official Twitter handle. WhatsApp tweeted: “We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.”
Instagram said: Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we’re on it! #instagramdown
We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.
— Facebook (@Facebook) October 4, 2021
We’re aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We’re working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible.
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) October 4, 2021
Thanks for your patience!
Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we’re on it! #instagramdown
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) October 4, 2021
Earlier this year, WhatsApp and Instagram had suffered a major outage. On March 20, Facebook and all its services were down for about 45 minutes, after which they resumed. On Friday, Twitter was filled with news updates and memes about the global WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook outages.