Spike in Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp Outages Across Multiple Countries, Including Sri Lanka

Social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and the messaging app WhatsApp experienced widespread outages on Thursday, affecting users in multiple countries, including Sri Lanka.

According to Downdetector, a platform that monitors service disruptions, reports of issues began flooding in around 1:20 p.m. ET. Over 105,000 users reported Facebook was not working, with the majority indicating the problem originated from the app. Facebook Messenger also faced disruptions, with 11,000 reports of issues.

Instagram faced significant outages as well, with Downdetector logging 70,590 problem reports. Around 78 percent of users identified the app as the source of the issue.

WhatsApp, one of the world’s most popular messaging apps, has also been hit by the outage. Users are unable to send or receive messages, further fueling frustration.

While the specific cause of the outages remains unclear, complaints from affected users continue to rise. As of now, Meta, the parent company of these platforms, has not issued an official statement addressing the disruptions.

The outages have left millions of users worldwide grappling with connectivity issues, highlighting the challenges of relying heavily on centralized communication platforms.