Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP (Getty Images)
Update 6:50 PM, ET
The user issues seem to have been resolved. A Meta spokesperson reached out to Gizmodo to provide the following update:
“Earlier today, some people may have experienced trouble accessing Workplace Chat, Instagram DMs and Messenger. We fixed the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted. We know people and businesses depend on our services around the world and we’re sorry for any disruption this has caused.”
See the original story below.
It would appear that Messenger, as well as Instagram’s messaging function and other Facebook-owned services, are currently having trouble, as thousands of users report being unable to access the company’s platforms Wednesday.
Around mid-afternoon EST, DownDetector showed that Instagram, Facebook (now re-named “Meta,” as the company pivots to build a real-life Matrix), and Messenger were all seeing a spike in reports of accessibility problems.
Like they usually do, users were quick to share their displeasure on Twitter.
“Kinda assumed I broke my Messenger & IG inboxes until I searched “Messenger down” on Twitter,” tweeted one user. Others went the meme route:
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Facebook appeared to quickly confirm that Messenger was, indeed, down. “No, your wifi isn’t out. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. #messengerdown,” Messenger’s official account tweeted Wednesday.
A spokesperson for “Meta” confirmed to Gizmodo that the company is having problems—specifically with the company’s communication platforms. They sent the following statement:
“We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing Messenger, Workplace Chat and Instagram DMs. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and we apologize for any inconvenience,” a spokeswoman said.
This latest apparent outage follows a massive one in October that saw all of Facebook and its services disappear from the internet for the better part of a day. The blackout was ultimately revealed to be the result of a “faulty configuration change” to an obscure but very important routing protocol known as Border Gateway Protocol or BGP.
These days, global outages are the least of Face-Meta’s troubles, however. Beset by ongoing revelations provided by a company whistleblower, Frances Haugen, the company has suffered through ongoing criticism regarding its business practices. Haugen’s leaks have triggered inquires from Congress, as well as ongoing media investigations.
