# Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp hit by global outage Author: Pal Sinha, Barnali Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali Published: 2021-10-04 Category: NEWS Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/news Meta Title: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp Global Outage: What Meta Description: Global outage of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp due to DNS error. Experts speculate internal configuration mistake. Shares drop. Users report issues. URL: https://financedigest.com/facebook-instagram-whatsapp-hit-by-global-outagehtml ![undefined](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/2021-10-04t183355z4lynxmpeh93104rtroptp4tech-facebook-1736837719891-compressed.jpg) By Subrat Patnaik and Eva Mathews (Reuters) -Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went offline for users across the globe, the social media giant said on Monday, as it worked on restoring its services. Reuters could not immediately confirm the issue affecting the services, but the error message on the webpage of Facebook Inc suggested a problem with Domain Name System (DNS). DNS [allows web addresses to take users](https://www.financedigest.com/datawallet-partners-with-indorse-and-steemit-allows-users-to-earn-profit-for-sharing-data.html "Datawallet Partners with Indorse and Steemit, Allows Users to Earn Profit for Sharing Data") to their destinations. A similar [outage at cloud](https://www.financedigest.com/3-steps-to-combat-cloud-outages.html "3 Steps to Combat Cloud Outages") company Akamai Technologies Inc took down multiple websites in July. Security experts tracking the situation said the [outage could have been triggered](https://www.financedigest.com/instagram-fixes-bug-that-triggered-hours-long-outage.html "Instagram fixes bug that triggered hours-long outage") by a configuration error, which could be the result of an internal mistake, though sabotage by an insider would be theoretically possible. An outside hack was viewed as less likely. A massive denial-of-service attack that could overwhelm one of the world’s most popular sites, on the other hand, would require either coordination among powerful [criminal groups or a very innovative](https://www.financedigest.com/criminals-terrorists-back-foot-thanks-innovative-identity-check-tech-e-money-prepaid-fintech-financial-services.html "Criminals and terrorists on the back foot thanks to innovative identity check tech for e-money, prepaid and fintech financial services     ") technique. Facebook acknowledged [users were having trouble accessing its apps](https://www.financedigest.com/yolt-becomes-first-money-app-to-complete-the-integration-of-all-new-users-via-an-open-banking-api.html "Yolt becomes first money app to complete the integration of all new users via an Open Banking API") but did not provide any specifics about the nature of the problem or how many were affected by the outage. We’re [working to get things back to normal](https://www.financedigest.com/the-new-fangled-normal-of-working-from-home-to-push-the-public-cloud-service-market.html "The “New-Fangled” Normal of “Working from Home” to Push the Public Cloud Service Market") as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience,” Facebook said. Shares of Facebook, which has nearly 2 billion daily active users, fell 5.5% in afternoon trading on Monday, [inching towards](https://www.financedigest.com/ftse-100-inches-towards-recent-highs-as-bp-shines.html "FTSE 100 inches towards recent highs as BP shines") its worst day in nearly a year. Downdetector – which only tracks outages by collating status reports from a series of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform – showed there were more than 50,000 incidents of [people reporting](https://www.financedigest.com/new-report-reveals-new-resetting-social-trend-as-people-take-control-of-their-lives.html "New Report Reveals New ‘Resetting’ Social Trend As People Take Control Of Their Lives") issues with Facebook and Instagram. The outage might be affecting a larger number of users. Meanwhile, the social-media giant’s [instant messaging](https://www.financedigest.com/financial-services-risk-data-security-breaches-insecure-instant-messaging.html "Financial services risk data security breaches with insecure instant messaging") platform WhatsApp was also down for over 35,000 users, while Messenger was down for nearly 9,800 users. Facebook has experienced similar widespread outages with its suite of apps this [year in March](https://www.financedigest.com/glastons-interim-report-1-january-31-march-2018-orders-received-grew-23-comparable-operating-profit-at-previous-years-level.html "Glaston’s Interim Report 1 January – 31 March 2018: Orders received grew 23%, comparable operating profit at previous year’s level") and July. Several users using their Facebook credentials to log in to third-party [apps such as Pokemon Go and Match Masters were also facing issues](https://www.financedigest.com/havensrock-thrive-app-launched-by-punter-southall-health-and-protection-to-address-workplace-mental-health-issues.html "Havensrock Thrive App launched by Punter Southall Health and Protection to address workplace mental health issues"). If your game isn’t running as usual please note that there’s been an issue with Facebook login servers and the moment this gets fixed all will be [back to normal,” puzzle game app Match Masters said on its Twitter account](https://www.financedigest.com/reckon-one-builds-momentum-with-strong-backing-from-accountants-joining-the-cloud-advisor-programme.html "Reckon One builds momentum with strong backing from accountants joining the Cloud Advisor Programme"). The outage, which hit the social media giant’s platforms minutes before noon, comes a day after a Facebook whistleblower accused the [firm of repeatedly prioritizing profit](https://www.financedigest.com/polish-e-commerce-firm-allegro-eyes-higher-q1-profit.html "Polish e-commerce firm Allegro eyes higher Q1 profit") over clamping down on hate speech and misinformation, and said her lawyers have filed at least eight complaints with the U.S. [Securities and Exchange](https://www.financedigest.com/vaultbank-exchange-launches-in-beta-opening-security-tokens-for-trading.html "Vaultbank Exchange Launches in Beta, Opening Security Tokens for Trading") Commission. The complaint has led to two members of the European parliament calling for an investigation into the allegations. (Reporting by Eva Mathews and Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru, Additional reporting by Tiyashi Datta, Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru and Joseph Menn in [San Francisco; Editing by Uttaresh](https://www.financedigest.com/paul-jasper-joins-rimon-laws-san-francisco-office-as-partner.html "Paul Jasper joins Rimon Law’s San Francisco Office as Partner").V, Shailesh Kuber and Anil D’Silva) --- This blog is powered by Superblog. Visit https://superblog.ai to know more. ---