WHATSAPP AND INSTAGRAM RESTORED AFTER META OUTAGES

Instagram and WhatsApp are now back online after a mass global outage affected several Meta-owned apps on Wednesday. The outage, which was reported by over 22,000 people on Facebook and over 18,000 on WhatsApp, according to outage-tracking site Downdetector, has been resolved, with both apps now functioning normally.

The outages started around 18:00 GMT on Wednesday, with users reporting issues with Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram in the UK, parts of Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the US. Meta, which owns the apps, acknowledged the issue, saying it was aware of a "technical issue" that was "impacting some users' ability to access our apps".

The company worked to fix the issue as soon as possible, with WhatsApp and Instagram announcing their return to service on X. "Thanks for bearing with us! We're 99% of the way there — just doing some last checks. We apologize to those who've been affected by the outage," Meta said.

WhatsApp and Instagram's return to service was confirmed by the apps themselves, with WhatsApp saying "And we're back, happy chatting!" and Instagram saying "Andddd we're back — sorry for the wait, and thanks for bearing with us".

The cause of the outage is still unclear, but it's a relief that the issue has been resolved, and users can now access their favorite apps without any issues.