WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram back online after hours of outage

By
Web Desk
|
— Reuters/File
— Reuters/File

  • Downdetector shows WhatsApp outage was reported at 8:23pm.
  • Instagram outage was reported first at 7:59pm; Facebook went down around same time.
  • WhatsApp says it is working to resolve the issue and asks users to be patient.


KARACHI: Social media platforms WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram have been restored hours after the worldwide outage. 

The Facebook-owned messaging app issued an apology and announced the restoration of the social media platform. 

The Downdetector, which offers real-time status and outage information for all kinds of services, showed that WhatsApp outage was reported at 8:23pm (Pakistan Standard Time) and it shot up to 17,659 complaints by 9:06pm.

The website mentioned that the Instagram outage was reported first at 7:59pm, while Facebook went down almost around the same time.

WhatsApp had last went down in March and was restored hours later, however, the reason for the outage was not officially announced by the company. Photo-sharing app Instagram had also gone down earlier this month and was stored after hours.

WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram down: Twitter floods with hilarious posts

Reuters could not immediately confirm the issue affecting the services. However, the error message on Facebook's webpage suggested a Domain Name System (DNS) error.

DNS allows web addresses to take users to their destinations. A similar outage at cloud company Akamai Technologies Inc took down multiple websites in July.

Facebook shares fell 5.5% in afternoon trading on Monday, inching towards its worst day in nearly a year.

Meanwhile, the social-media giant's instant messaging platform WhatsApp was also down for over 35,000 users, while Messenger was down for nearly 9,800 users.

Facebook has experienced similar widespread outages with its suite of apps this year in March and July.

WhatsApp responds

Taking to Twitter following the outage, WhatsApp tweeted that it is working to resolve the issue and asked users to be patient.

"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. Thanks for your patience!"

Facebook working to get things back to normal

After WhatsApp tweeted about its outage, Facebook followed suit and tweeted: "We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing the Facebook app. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience."

Instagram asks users to 'bear with us'

"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," it said.

PTA collecting details

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's (PTA) spokesperson, issuing a statement on Twitter, said Facebook services had faced a global outage and that the authority was collecting further details.