Facebook Messenger down, not showing pictures and messages, explained

May 2024 · 2 minute read

For many of us, Facebook Messenger is a useful tool for staying in touch with friends and family who may not otherwise be easily contacted. That is why it is so disconcerting when the app doesn’t function correctly, which is something that has plagued some users this week.

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Across the world, many users have reported an inability to load messages and pictures, according to HITC. Reports of errors began pouring in on Thursday and have persisted Friday, with parent company Meta failing to address the problem so far, the article said.

HITC reports that “thousands” have been left with an outage on their messenger app, unable to use it as they normally would. However, the problem doesn’t appear to be completely universal, as I personally checked my app and it seemed to be working normally for me.

The errors seem to vary from person to person. While some have reported that they could not send or receive messages, others have claimed the app’s only point of malfunction for them was an inability to load pictures.

Other anecdotal reports on Twitter indicate outages may be occurring on some of Meta’s other apps, such as Whatsapp and Instagram. And those outage reports have inevitably inspired memes, as well.

Everyone coming to #twitter to confirm that #Facebook, #WhatsApp & #Instagram are down…#facebookdown #whatsappdown #instagramdown pic.twitter.com/ZeS65ctfeK

— Elon Beta (@elonbeta) June 16, 2023
https://twitter.com/wurcielago/status/1669795517822279690?s=20

Instagram, Whatsapp & Facebook #down pic.twitter.com/9sdF2arCiq

— Alejandro 🌈 (@aleato) June 16, 2023

Facebook is down
Complete website blackout @downdetector pic.twitter.com/Y9vM7akPgz

— Red Sky Ready (@RedSkyReady) June 16, 2023

Once again, these outages don’t appear to be universal by any stretch of the imagination, since I personally was able to load up Facebook on my PC and Instagram on my phone, with no problem. But it certainly seems there are a lot of people other than me experiencing issues.

According to DownDetector.com, which tracks outages for online services such as apps and internet providers, reports of outages by users have indeed spiked in the last 24 hours for Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, and Instagram.

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