Meta services down with Facebook, Messenger and Instagram users affected

Millions of Facebook, Instagram and Messenger users across the globe – including Aussies – have been hit with massive outages this morning.

Facebook has been hit by yet another problem.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is facing yet another headache today after his newly-rebranded company Meta was hit by widespread outages.

It means that countless Facebook, Instagram and Messenger users across the globe have been affected.

It means many have been unable to send messages within the company’s apps, and for some, visiting the website in their browser will lead to an error message.

Countless social media users have been affected.

“We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing Messenger, Workplace Chat and Instagram DMs,” a Meta representative told The Independent in a statement.

“We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and we apologise for any inconvenience.”

DownDetector's heat map of affected areas in Australia. Picture: Supplied

The issue seems to be affecting users from Australia, Europe and Central America, and reports of tech problem surged on DownDetector from around 6am AEDT today.

Reports of outages began to spike this morning.

It comes just weeks after the company experienced two major disruptions in one week in October, after routing maintenance caused sites to crash across the world and sparking Facebook to issue a detailed apology to clients.

That global, six-hour outage was so severe it cost CEO Mark Zuckerberg a staggering AU$9.6 billion, after spooked stock holders started ditching their shares in a mass sell-off, causing the market to plummet by five per cent.

Today’s new hiccup also comes after Facebook announced a huge rebrand last week.

On Friday morning, Facebook revealed at its annual Connect conference that it would be changing its company name to Meta.

The name comes from the Greek word for “beyond”, and reflects Facebook’s transition away from being a social media platform only, and towards its major focus on developing the metaverse.

“Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can’t possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

“Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company, and I want to anchor our work and identity on what we’re building toward.”

More to come

Originally published as Meta services down with Facebook, Messenger and Instagram users affected