Users of Instagram reported widespread disruptions on Tuesday, with many saying they were unable to send or receive direct messages or properly access the app.

According to Downdetector, a website that tracks online service outages, thousands of users flagged problems with the Meta-owned social media platform during the disruption.

Downdetector later recorded more than 10,000 user reports related to Instagram issues as the outage continued to affect users.

Earlier in the incident, the outage tracking site had logged over 4,700 complaints, indicating a sharp rise in reports within a short period of time. Data shared on the platform showed that most users were experiencing difficulties with Instagram’s messaging feature, while others reported problems with the app itself, server connectivity, and posting content.

A spike in complaints was visible on Downdetector’s outage graph, suggesting that the issue had affected a large number of users simultaneously.

The outage map published by the platform showed significant clusters of reports from major US cities, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, Washington and New York, indicating that the disruption may have been widespread across several regions.

Instagram, owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms, is widely used for sharing photos, videos and public posts, where users can like, comment on and share content. However, the platform’s direct messaging (DM) feature is also a major channel for private communication between users.

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Because of this, many users reported interruptions in ongoing conversations when the messaging feature stopped working or messages failed to load.

A number of people also turned to social media platforms to check whether others were facing similar issues, while several users posted complaints directly on Downdetector’s report page, highlighting delayed messages, failure to send replies, and conversations being abruptly interrupted.

Meanwhile, some speculation emerged online attempting to link the outage to the ongoing tensions between the United States and Iran. Posts circulating on social media suggested that Iran may have targeted technological infrastructure belonging to adversaries.

However, these claims remain unverified, and there is no official evidence linking the Instagram outage to geopolitical events.

Meta has not released an official statement explaining the cause of the disruption.

As users continue to report issues, many have also been tagging Instagram on its accounts on other social media platforms in an attempt to draw attention to the problem and seek a resolution.