Meta outage on July 19: Meta’s Instagram and Facebook experienced widespread disruptions on Sunday, with thousands of users globally reporting problems logging in, posting, and loading feeds. Data from the real-time outage tracker Downdetector showed complaints spiking sharply between 12:45 PM and 4:15 PM, indicating a widespread system issue rather than regional glitches.
According to Downdetector, there were 4,808 reports filed by Facebook users in the United States as of 07:46 GMT, with 63% of those users facing issues accessing the website. Another 2,829 reports were filed by Instagram users in the US who faced app-related issues as of 08:18 GMT on Sunday. Reuters also reported that access to both Facebook and Instagram was intermittent in Singapore.
Meta has not yet released a formal statement concerning the issue. While new reports were still coming in, Downdetector’s live map showed that the volume of new complaints was beginning to taper off.
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1. App crashes and loading failures: Many users reported that the app crashed the moment it was opened. Some saw “Instagram has stopped” errors or were stuck looking at cached versions of their feeds with “Couldn’t refresh feed” messages.
“My Instagram is not working, meaning its homepage won’t open. It opens for one second and closes again automatically. What is the problem?” one user posted on Downdetector. Another added, “My DMs and chatbox are not showing; it’s only loading.”
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2. Login issues: Users reported being stuck in verification loops, experiencing two-factor authentication failures, and encountering “something went wrong” or “session expired” errors.
3. Posting and stories errors: Complaints included issues with attempting to upload posts, Stories, and Reels. In many instances, the app would open, but new feeds and Stories failed to load entirely.
