Facebook down: Social media site and Instagram 'crash' for thousands of internet users

The social media site was reported down at just after 2pm on Saturday.
LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images
Francesca Gillett26 August 2017

Facebook users complained of being unable to access the site after it appeared to crash on Saturday afternoon.

Thousands of people said they were experiencing problems logging onto the website and app, loading posts or sending messages, although others reported no problems.

According to UK site DownDetector, which collects reports of website crashes, the problems on Facebook began at around 2.15pm on Saturday.

People were unable to log onto the website for around an hour, while even more people reported problems loading photo site Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.

At its peak there were more than 1,500 reports of Facebook users experiencing problems getting onto the website – including some who described the problems on DownDetector as a “total blackout”.

Others reported more milder problems such as trouble logging in or loading pictures, while some were unable to use the Facebook Messenger app.

According to pictures on social media, some users received a message which read: "Facebook will be back soon.

"Facebook is down for maintenance right now, but you should be able to get on within a few hours."

Thousands of people took to social media to report the issue and poke fun with mock-dramatic tweets.

At around 3.20pm, web users began reporting the social media site appeared to be fixed.

The Standard has contacted the social media giant for comment.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in