Facebook, Instagram and Threads suffer major global outages

Facebook, Instagram and Threads, all social media platforms owned by Meta, are suffering from a major worldwide outage on Tuesday.

Facebook is logging users out of their accounts and refusing to let users back in or change their passwords. Instagram displays the message: "Couldn't refresh feed." Threads, meanwhile, appears as a blank page.

At the height of the outage, more than 560,000 Facebook users reported outages to Downdetector.com, a website that tracks outages. Shortly after 11 a.m. ET, that number declined to about 130,000 people reporting outages.

Meanwhile, more than 25,000 people are still reporting problems with Instagram, which is down from nearly 90,000 who reported outages at the height, per Downdetector. 

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone took to X, formerly Twitter, to address the issue, writing: "We're aware people are having trouble accessing our services. We are working on this now."

This is not the first major outage to plague Meta. 

Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, all of which are owned by Meta, went down for about five hours in 2021 due to what the company said was a faulty server update. 

Follow Madeleine Hubbard on X or Instagram.