Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms were down in parts of the world on Monday. The websites and apps for all of the services were responding with server errors. Reports on DownDetector.com showed the outages appear to be widespread.
The company did not say what might be causing the outage, which began around 11:45 ET. It is normal for websites and apps to suffer outages, though one on a global scale is rare. Users reported being unable to access Facebook in California, New York, and Europe, reports the Associated Press.
“We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products,” a spokesperson said. “We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.”
Instagram.com is flashing a 5xx Server Error message, while the Facebook site merely tells us that something went wrong. The problem also appears to be affecting its virtual reality arm, Oculus.
The Verge is reporting that users can load games they already have installed and the browser works, but social features or installing new games does not.
Meanwhile, Facebook is going through a major crisis after the whistleblower who was the source of The Wall Street Journal’s series of stories exposing the company’s awareness of internal research into the negative effects of its products and decisions went public on “60 Minutes” on Sunday.
