A global outage affects the social networks of the Meta platform this Wednesday, December 11, 2024. Thousands of users can no longer access Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. But the situation is improving.
A major outage affects the various Meta platforms this Wednesday, December 11, 2024 in the evening. Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger are particularly affected. Thousands of reports have already been reported on the specialized site Downdetector, where users complain in particular of not being able to connect or send a message, seeing their communications leave with a delay or even be deleted. The company confirmed that it was experiencing technical issues. And if the duration of the outage facing Meta was difficult to assess, it seems that since 8 p.m. a gradual return to normal has been noted. Shortly before 8 p.m., WhatsApp indicated on
“We are aware that a technical problem is affecting the ability of some users to access our applications. We are working to restore the situation as quickly as possible and we apologize for the inconvenience caused,” the firm said on Wednesday evening on the network social X. For the moment, Meta is unable to provide further information on the origin of the outage.
We’re aware that a technical issue is impacting some users’ ability to access our apps. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.
— Meta (@Meta) December 11, 2024
In 2021, a giant outage had already affected these platforms and lasted more than 6 hours. During this time, it was impossible to send or receive a message on the Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp networks. Even worse, if you typed Facebook into a search engine, the page was nowhere to be found, as if the social network had disappeared from the internet world for a few hours.
Latest updates
21:32 – Several peaks in reports observed on WhatsApp
After a first wave of reports of technical problems on WhatsApp around 7 p.m., an improvement was noted before a new peak, almost double the first, around 7:30 p.m. Again followed by an improvement, this second peak was then doubled by the third peak, around 8:20 p.m., which reached almost 4,000 reports. Concretely, messages sent by users take time to send (several tens of seconds, even minutes), notifications arrive late.
9:17 p.m. – Automatic disconnection, impossible connection… These problems reported on Facebook
As with WhatsApp, the peak in problem reports was recorded at 7 p.m., although around 8:30 p.m. the reports started to rise slightly again, before starting to decline again around 8:40 p.m. On Downdetector, an Internet user complains of “automatic disconnection” followed by an impossible connection. If another mentions their inability to upload photos to their Facebook page, overall, the connection problem seems to come up the most.
9:04 p.m. – Messaging and notification issues on Instagram
In France, the peak in reporting problems on Instagram seems to have passed. It took place around 7 p.m., with nearly 6,500 reports. On Downdetector, a user details problems with Instagram messaging: “Messages are sent late or deleted on their own. Notifications do not come or come late.”
20:58 – Boss of X, Elon Musk does not shy away from his pleasure in the face of competition problems
The boss of X did not fail to react this Wednesday evening to the breakdown which affects his rival Meta. “Meta announces technical problems and uses the X platform to announce the current service downtime,” he says on his social network, with a little hilarious emoji in support. And added: “You are reading this post because the X servers are working.”
20:51 – A return to normal announced for most WhatsApp users
“We are aware of certain problems accessing WhatsApp,” WhatsApp sur X said shortly before 8 p.m., while ensuring that the resolution of the problem was on track. “We are actively working on a solution and are starting to see a return to normal for most users. We expect things to return to normal shortly,” it was further indicated.
We’re aware of some issues accessing WhatsApp. We’re actively working on a solution and starting to see a return to normal for most people. We expect things to be back to normal shortly.
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) December 11, 2024
20:43 – An error message when connecting to Facebook
As Forbes relays, some Facebook users were sent an error message when connecting to the social network. “We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible,” it said.
20:32 – Is the problem already being resolved on Facebook?
On the site Downdetectorwe can see a peak in reporting of the problem on Facebook around 7 p.m. More than 100,000 people then made reports. At 7:36 a.m., “more than” 31,000 reports were reported. As of 8:21 p.m., the number of reports stood at approximately 20,000.
20:25 – On Facebook, a news feed that no longer updates
What does the outage look like on Facebook? For many Internet users, everything seems normal at first glance when connecting to the social network. But on closer inspection, it seems that the news feed isn’t really updated. The last publications are often several hours or even days old.
20:21 – Meta recognizes a “technical problem” and assures that it is working on it
On X, the Meta company says it is aware “that a technical problem is affecting the ability of certain users to access our applications”. And to indicate: “We are working to restore the situation as quickly as possible and we apologize for the inconvenience caused.” For the moment, the company does not give a time estimate for resolving the problem.
We’re aware that a technical issue is impacting some users’ ability to access our apps. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.
— Meta (@Meta) December 11, 2024