Meta, encompassing platforms like Facebook and Instagram, underwent a widespread outage on Tuesday due to a technical issue, disrupting services for thousands of users. Downdetector reported around 500,000 Facebook users encountering login problems, along with 50,000 reports for Instagram and 10,000 for Facebook Messenger. Users experienced a range of issues, from being unexpectedly logged out of their Facebook accounts to encountering error notifications on Instagram, indicating the severity of the disruption.
The outage extended to Meta’s competitor to Elon Musk’s X, Threads, which also experienced downtime and displayed error popups instead of user feeds. Despite the inconvenience, Meta swiftly addressed the issue, resolving it within approximately two hours of the outage’s onset. Spokesperson Andy Stone acknowledged the disruption, confirmed the resolution, and apologized for any inconvenience caused to affected users.
Following the outage, several attacker groups claimed responsibility for the disruption, including Skynet, Godzilla, and Anonymous Sudan, according to cybersecurity firm Cyberint. Despite concerns, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency stated they were not aware of specific malicious cyber activity or any connection to the day’s Super Tuesday primary elections. Additionally, Meta’s previous experience with major outages in 2021 reassured users that such incidents were typically not the result of malicious activity but rather benign issues such as software updates.
