Instagram was back online for most users on Thursday after an outage that left tens of thousands unable to access their accounts. According to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating reports from multiple sources, the photo-sharing app was down for more than three hours on Thursday. Downdetector cited that most reported problems were from the United States, but what caused the outage still needs clarification. Meta, which also owns Facebook and Messenger and operates Threads artificial reality headsets, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Frustrated users vented their frustration on social media, where hashtags such as #facebookdown and #instagramdown were trending. Many users said they were logged out of their accounts and could not log back in, and others expressed concern that their accounts had been hacked. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone posted on X, the company’s competitor to Twitter, that the problem had been resolved and apologized for the outage without giving much detail.
The outage also affected Instagram’s business-focused features, such as Stories and Ad Manager. Users from Egypt to Oklahoma needed help logging in to the service. According to Downdetector, the problems appeared to hit the system hardest around 10:30 a.m. ET, when reports of outages peaked at more than 550,000 for Facebook and 92,000 for Instagram.
At the height of the outage, users could not log in to Facebook or Instagram, view posts or photos, view the company’s news feed, or use its Messenger service. When they tried to access the apps, they were greeted with error messages, prompting some to fear their accounts had been hacked.
Some users could log in later on Tuesday after the outages were resolved. The outages occurred just a day before Meta was expected to comply with new European Union rules requiring large technology companies to allow users to keep their data separate from each other so it can no longer be used to target ads.
The issue prompted questions about Meta’s systems’ reliability and whether the company had failed to invest enough in them. Meta’s investors are concerned about its ability to protect user data.
The outages also come as Meta is facing a lawsuit from advertisers who allege that the company violates consumer protection laws by tracking purchases through the Facebook and Instagram platforms and then using those purchase data to target them with ads. A judge has certified the class action to proceed, and a trial is scheduled for 2024.