Meta’s popular platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp experienced widespread outages on Wednesday, December 11, with thousands of users reporting disruptions. According to outage tracker DownDetector, the issues began around 12:30 p.m. EST, peaking shortly after with over 100,000 Facebook users, 68,000 Instagram users, and tens of thousands of WhatsApp and Threads users reporting problems.
Progress Toward a Fix
By 5:30 p.m. EST, Meta announced significant progress toward resolving the issue, with reported outages plummeting to just over 1,200 for Facebook and around 1,900 for Instagram. WhatsApp and Messenger also saw a substantial decrease in reported disruptions.
During the outage, users attempting to access Facebook encountered an error message reading, “We’re working on getting this fixed as soon as we can.” Meta’s business tools, including Facebook Ads Manager and Messenger API for Instagram, also faced major disruptions.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) at 5:30 p.m., Meta apologized for the inconvenience and reassured users, stating, “We’re 99% of the way there—just doing some last checks.”
A Familiar Problem
Wednesday’s outage follows a significant global disruption in March 2024, which affected hundreds of thousands of users for more than two hours. That outage, caused by a technical issue, saw 538,000 reports of problems with Facebook and over 91,000 for Instagram at its peak.
Context: Recent Tech Outages
Meta’s troubles come amidst a string of outages in the tech world. On November 25, Microsoft platforms experienced more than a day of downtime, coinciding with the rollout of a new Recall AI tool. Similarly, Reddit faced two outages within 24 hours on November 21, affecting over 76,000 users.
Meta’s Market Presence
Despite occasional technical hiccups, Meta remains a tech giant, ranking 24th on Forbes’ Global 2000 list. As of June, Meta reported $142.7 billion in sales, $45.8 billion in profit, and a market value of $1.197 trillion.
Tangible Takeaway
While outages are frustrating for users and businesses, Meta’s swift response reflects its robust infrastructure and commitment to resolving issues efficiently. Users can expect smoother performance as Meta continues refining its systems to prevent future disruptions.
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