Facebook users across the world were locked out of their accounts on Sunday morning, as the platform began showing a blunt 'temporarily unavailable' message to millions trying to log in via desktop and mobile. The Facebook outage, which also coincided with reports of problems on Instagram, first flared in the United States shortly after 3.25 a.m. ET, according to live tracking site Downdetector.
For context, Facebook and Instagram, both owned by Meta, have a track record of occasional high-profile meltdowns that turn the internet slightly mad for a few hours. In October 2021, a major configuration failure at Meta knocked Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger offline for nearly six hours. On Sunday, users quickly began drawing comparisons, even though this latest disruption appeared more patchy and less prolonged in its early stages.
