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Massive outage hits Instagram and Facebook, leaving users frustrated

 

In another colossal inconvenience to Meta platforms, Facebook and Instagram went offline for users on March 25, 2025, with the breakdown starting at around 9 AM ET. 

Thousands of account holders throughout the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and other locations encountered issues using the platforms, as Instagram grappled with high-level comment lag and users encountered login difficulties for Facebook. 

The breakdown caught strong momentum across competing social media forums, where fed-up account owners were crying for an explanation from Meta.

 

Instagram Users Struggle with Vanishing Comments

 

Instagram’s outrage mainly impacted its common feature, with users complaining of missing or vanished comments on posts. Based on Downdetector, an online service outage tracking website, close to 63 percent of Instagram-related complaints were about this issue, and 30 percent complained of general malfunction. 

Users flooded X, formerly known as Twitter, with their frustration, with one user saying, “My comments are disappearing the second I post them. Is Instagram down for everyone?”

As the issue continued, social media discussions guessed if a backend upgrade or a technical glitch was to blame for the interruption. Yet Meta kept quiet over the incident, providing no formal explanation.

 

Facebook Users Blocked During Login Fails

 

While Instagram faced issues with comments, Facebook users faced difficulties in logging in. Numerous users found themselves unexpectedly locked out, and error messages kept them from re-entering after logging out. Data from Downdetector showed that 44 percent of complaints about Facebook were due to website functionality and 33 percent due to failed logins.

“I checked out for a minute, and now I’m unable to log back in,” one exasperated Facebook user wrote on X, mirroring the frustrations of many others who were having the same problem, although most of the complaints originated in the US and UK.

 

Extent and Duration of Outage

 

The blackout reached its peak within hours of its beginning, with thousands of users left in search of alternative means to reach Meta's services. Some reports had earlier suggested that the interruption had a worldwide presence, with certain areas being affected more than others, with India, for example, at the peak receiving about 200 complaints as compared to thousands from the United States.

The systems were down; thus the outage affected interactions for most companies and content producers who rely on the platforms for interactions, file uploadings, and web sale operations, creating fears for Meta's infrastructure reliability. 

While the outage was a serious one, Meta has yet to inform the general public of its cause and the estimated time for its resolution. Many users are, however, urging the tech giant to improve its communication during service outages, and the lack of transparency has only left them more agitated.

This is not the first time Meta has experienced such a huge outage. Just recently, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok suffered a multi-hour blackout that impacted millions of people worldwide. The extreme frequency of these outages, however, raises serious questions about the very stability of Meta's platforms in terms of their ability to withstand technical difficulties.


Looking Ahead

 

Despite this, the inconclusive answer from Meta has led users to refresh their pages and wait for things to go back to normal. Meanwhile, the outage is yet another reminder of the increasing dependency on digital platforms, and the disruption that follows when they do go dark.

For the time being, companies and users are left to ponder: Is Meta’s infrastructure scaling with its enormous user base, or are these outages the new normal?