WhatsApp, Facebook and TikTok DOWN as thousands of app users can't send messages

Thousands of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger users are facing difficulties this afternoon with reports the popular messaging app is down as users are unable to send messages

WhatsApp is currently down for at least 68,000 users on Friday afternoon while Facebook Messenger, Facebook and TikTok are also affected by outages across the globe.

Website Downdetector, which monitors where there are issues with websites and apps, showed large spikes for WhatApp in particular, with people saying they had been affected by the outage. While at least 1,800 Facebook Messengers users are affected.

A map shows that most of the affected WhatsApp users in the UK are in London, however many areas across the UK have been affected. Cities such as Manchester and Glasgow also have large outages reported.

Multiple messages have been left on Downdetector's site complaining about the outages. The huge spikes in reported problems began after 3:12pm today, according to the site. The majority of issues with the platform are with sending messages (55%) followed by server connected (34%) and the app itself (11%).

Many users took to X (formerly) Twitter to comment on the outages. One user wrote: ""Me running to Twitter to check if WhatsApp is down or if my WiFi just betrayed me again…" While another also joked: "WhatsApp is down, and now X is the new customer care center."

Someone else advised: "Stop toggling your flight mode on/off. Stop refreshing your WhatsApp. It’s not your network; WhatsApp is down."

A WhatsApp spokesperson told the Mirror at around 6pm today that the issue had finally been fixed: "We know some people briefly had trouble sending messages on WhatsApp. We’ve fixed the issue"

This is not the first time in recent months that Meta, who owns WhatsApp and Facebook, has had major outage issues. In December last year, more than 100,000 complaints were made after Facebook and Instagram, another Meta-owned platforms, went down.

A Meta spokesperson shared the following statement with The Mirror at the time: "We’re aware that a technical issue is impacting some users’ ability to access our apps. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience."

While in October 2021, Mark Zuckerberg apologised after Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram went down for nearly six hours. During the outage, potentially billions of people were left wihtout access to the social media tools they heavily relied on for communication with friends and family.

The repercussions also extended to Zuckerberg at the time, with around a $6 billion (£4.4 billion) loss in his personal fortune as Facebook shares experienced a sharp decline. The business entrepreneur wrote in a post: "Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are coming back online now. Sorry for the disruption today -- I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about."