Facebook and Instagram are two of the biggest social media platforms. Despite the billions of resources poured into them, they can experience occasional outages. In fact, it is likely that you will not be able to access either of the two platforms at least once in your life.
When Facebook or Instagram crashes, there is nothing you can do but wait. Downtime may be just an inconvenience to some, but for others these social media platforms are essential to their business. If you can’t access Facebook or Instagram and are wondering if they’re really down, follow this guide.
Why Are Facebook and Instagram Crashing?
Facebook and Instagram can be inaccessible for many reasons. This can range from server issues to some DNS issues of your ISP, cyber attacks and more.
Server issues
Probably the most common reason why Facebook and Instagram cannot be accessed is server problems. Note that both platforms are regularly used by billions of people. Although Meta has ways to host all users on both platforms, servers are prone to glitches from time to time.
While Facebook or Instagram is down, you might consider updating your Twitter account and getting a blue tick for it.
Care
Another common cause is the maintenance that Meta does. Maintenance is usually done to fix bugs or update Facebook and Instagram. However, it’s worth noting that it’s rare for Meta to schedule maintenance across the two platforms. Meta does not maintain databases at the same time.
This means that Facebook and Instagram may be available to your friends, but will not be available to you during maintenance.
Cyber Attacks
Facebook is the world’s largest social media platform and Instagram follows closely. Both are prime targets for cyber attacks, but again, this rarely happens. When server-side attacks occur, the host usually shuts down everything to prevent data from going out, which causes outages.
Code Issues
Facebook and Instagram regularly receive new features and updates. While Meta does a great job of testing the feature’s code before releasing it, these infrastructure changes can sometimes cause connectivity issues as well. Such problems are usually resolved quickly.
3 Ways to Check If Facebook and Instagram Are Down
There are many ways to check for server outages on Facebook and Instagram. This can help you confirm that the problem is not with your ISP.
1. Check Outage Detector Websites
If you can’t access Facebook and Instagram, you should first use outage detection websites. The great thing about these is that they automatically detect your location to check if the server is down on your end.
One of the best platforms to use is Downdetector. After opening the website, simply type Facebook or Instagram in the search bar. Downdetector also shows a platform’s server status in the last 24 hours. You can contribute to the site by reporting when you cannot log in to Facebook or Instagram.
It’s also worth noting that the app versions of Facebook and Instagram are a different matter. There will be cases where mobile versions work but web versions cannot be accessed. The good news is that most interrupt detectors allow you to see the status of both versions.
→ Try Downdetector
2. Try Opening Other Websites
The fastest way to check if both platforms are down is to open other websites. That doesn’t give you a definitive answer about the status of Facebook and Instagram. However, it does tell you whether the problem is on your end or on Meta’s side. However, this method is not always effective as some websites take longer to load than Facebook.
3. Check Twitter or News Sites
Twitter may not be as popular as Facebook, but it is a great platform to gather information about events happening in real time. If Facebook or Instagram aren’t loaded by you, consider searching for them on Twitter. If there are multiple reports, it may indicate a server-side problem in Meta. If the outage lasts relatively long, Facebook or Instagram should appear as a trending topic on Twitter.
If you deleted your Twitter account, you can head to other news sites for updates. Media outlets typically provide an outage timeline and a detailed look at the issue.
What Can You Do When Facebook and Instagram Crash?
If the outage is due to an issue on the Meta side or server maintenance, there’s not much you can do but wait. Downtimes like this are usually not long. The longest downtime for Facebook was around 14 hours in 2019. The longest recent downtime for Instagram was 8 hours in 2022. These long downtimes rarely happen, so you don’t have to worry too much.
Understandably, these interruptions can be frustrating. Here’s how you can permanently delete your Facebook account if the meta platform is no longer suitable for you.
