Facebook and Messenger are Down. Now What?

UPDATE: As of 12:30am on Wednesday, Facebook and Messenger were reported to be working normally again.

If you’ve been having problems with Facebook, you’re not alone. 

On Tuesday night (March 5), people reported getting logged out of the social media platform and being unable to log back in. Users reported getting “Something went wrong. Please try again.” And “Session expired” on both the main Facebook app and on Messenger.

The issue was a trending topic worldwide on X (formerly Twitter).

X users have been posting memes nonstop to deal with the situation, but many expressed confusion, worry, and panic.

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“Huhu what is happening to FB and messenger?” said one X user.

“Di ako mapakali wala pa naming 1 hour nawawala fb and messenger,” said another. 

“Wrong timing ang down system ng FB and messenger. Please bumalik ka na,” pleaded another.

The outage seems to be worldwide, as major news platforms like Reuters, Variety, CBS News reported.

Outage tracking website Downdetector said Facebook, Messenger, and in some cases Instagram and Whatsapp, both of which are also owned by Meta, were inaccessible for hundreds of thousands of users.

"We're aware people are having trouble accessing our services. We are working on this now," Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a post on X. 

For people who mindlessly click on the Facebook app on their phones to check on what their friends are up to, the incident has been incredibly troubling. And sobering.

But for those who depend on the social media platform for more important or professional reasons, such as communicating with loved ones and colleagues, the outage was nothing short of stressful.

For many, it’s become a habit to go on a quick scroll on their News Feed on Facebook at night (and really, at all times of the day), although conventional wisdom (not to mention countless studies) have said that phone use should be avoided in the hours before bedtime. 

Perhaps this is a clear, unmistakable message for people to lay off social media. Or at least, cut back on the time they spend on these kinds of apps on their mobile phones.

In any case, for a vast majority of Facebook users, the old adage rings truer than ever: you never know what you have until it’s taken away from you.