Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram users say the platforms are back up for most people, according to multiple reports Monday night, but some problems remain.
Facebook’s outage reportedly was caused by a “routine” Border Gateway Protocol update “gone wrong,” according to reporter Brian Krebs.
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp experienced widespread service outages around the world for much of Monday afternoon, according to numerous reports.
Facebook confirmed Monday night that its apps and services “are coming back online now.”
Earlier Monday, Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed the problem on social media.
“We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products,” he wrote. “We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.”
A short time later, the outages appeared to have spread to Google, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, Apple, T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and Cricket Wireless, according to various reports.
The issue at Facebook also temporarily wiped out the company’s internal tools and communication platforms, according to The New York Times. Workers at the company headquarters in Menlo Park, California, reported being unable to enter buildings using employee ID badges.
The website DownDetector showed a spike in social media users reporting issues with loading the apps, starting about 11:30 a.m. ET.
The New York Times reported that Facebook employees thought the outage was the result of an internal error rather than a cyberattack.
The White House said it was aware of the outage and monitoring the situation closely.
Facebook Messenger was also experiencing technical glitches.
“This is epic,” said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis for Kentik Inc., according to The Associated Press. The last major internet outage, which knocked many of the world’s top websites offline in June, lasted less than an hour, the AP reported. The stricken content delivery company in that case, Fastly, blamed it on a software issue that was triggered by a customer who changed a setting.
Some have encountered a “500 server error” when trying to access the platforms, reports say.
The outage was also being reported in Russia, Thailand, Sudan, the Philippines and Myanmar.
On Wall Street, Facebook shares dropped 4.9% on Monday.
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