On Wednesday afternoon, Meta’s suite of apps experienced a major outage, leaving users around the world unable to access the platforms or send messages. The problems began around 12:40 p.m. ET when DownDetector reported a significant increase in error complaints.

Based on the numbers:

• The outage impacted services differently depending on user region.
• Some platforms began partial recovery at 1:20 p.m. ET, but many users remained locked out.

Why it matters to us. Failure of a meta results in interruption of ad delivery, reduces audience engagement, and impacts time-sensitive campaigns, potentially resulting in lost revenue. Frequent outages also raise concerns about platform reliability, which is why it would be wise to diversify your advertising strategy.

What they say. Meta confirmed the glitches in a post on X (formerly Twitter):

• “We are aware that a technical issue is affecting some users’ access to our apps. We are working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.”

What you should see. Meta did not provide specific details about the root cause of the outage or when services would be fully restored. Users should expect intermittent disruptions while the company works to resolve the issue.

Between the lines. The outages highlight Meta’s heavy reliance on its centralized infrastructure, which can lead to cascading outages affecting billions of users worldwide.