Millions of users worldwide experienced disruptions to Facebook and Instagram on Friday evening, as the Meta-owned social media platforms suffered a widespread outage that prevented many from accessing content normally.

The issues began at around 7pm IST, according to user reports and data from outage-monitoring website Downdetector, which recorded a sharp increase in complaints as the disruption spread across multiple regions.

Users in several countries reported difficulties loading feeds, refreshing content and accessing certain features on both Facebook and Instagram. Some also encountered login issues, while others said Facebook Messenger was affected.

In India, users across major cities reported that their timelines were failing to update, with many unable to view new posts or refresh existing content. Similar complaints emerged from users in Europe, North America and other parts of Asia, suggesting the problem was global in nature.

As concerns grew, many users flocked to alternative platforms, including X, to determine whether others were experiencing similar problems.

The outage appeared to affect users in different ways. While some were still able to access the websites, others reported that the mobile applications were unable to load fresh content or update feeds.

The varied nature of the disruption prompted speculation that the issue may have stemmed from Meta’s backend infrastructure rather than individual internet connections or devices.

Downdetector recorded more than 100,000 reports linked to Facebook alone, underlining the scale of the outage. Instagram also saw a significant rise in complaints, with reports continuing to climb as more users encountered problems.

At the time of publication, Meta had not issued an official statement explaining the cause of the outage or provided an estimate for when services would be fully restored.

Many users attempted common troubleshooting measures, including restarting applications, switching internet connections and checking for software updates. However, the widespread nature of the disruption suggested the problem originated within Meta’s systems, rendering such steps largely ineffective.