Instagram and Facebook messenger down for thousands as users report issues

Instagram and Facebook users in both the US and the UK are reporting issues as the messaging system on the platforms face outages.

Social media users began reporting issues at approximately 7am EST today (29 October), according to the website DownDetector, which monitors tech outages.

While Facebook itself has only been reported as having 'possible problems', reports specifically for Instagram and the Facebook Messenger app began to spike within the last couple hours, prompting Downdetector to confirm: "User reports indicate problems at Instagram."

Social media users took to Twitter to share news of the outages (X)

Some users have struggled to load chats, while others have been left with messages reading 'sending' for long periods of time as a result of the issues.

Many social media users resorted to using another social media site, Twitter, to share the news and make other people aware.

One jokingly wrote: "Instagram is down!! If I ignored your DM no I didn't!!"

Another added: "Me coming on Twitter to check if Instagram is down or what."

The reason for the issues is currently unclear.