DURBAN - THOUSANDS of people were left stranded when social media sites, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook crashed earlier this evening.
The Sun reported that over 20 000 Instagram users and 9000 WhatsApp users reported an ourtage just after 5:20pm.
The report said on Instagram, more than 70% of users complained that there were unable to access their newsfeed, while at least 71% of WhatsApp users said they were unable to get a connection. Others said they were unable to send or receive messages.
The Independent reported that users saw error alerts when they opened their apps.
The apps, which are all owned by Facebook, have been hit by a number of outages in recent years.
According to the Independent, in March 2019, it was hit by the biggest technical issue in its recent history, as all of Facebook’s apps went down for more than a day.
Meanwhile, Twitters users took full advantage of the opportunity to tease those who spend most of their time browsing Facebook, Instagram and checking status updates on WhatsApp.
How everyone on Instagram, Whatsapp & Facebook are entering Twitter after realising all Mark Zuckerberg's apps are down. pic.twitter.com/JEiEIb3eAE
— The Indaboski ❄ (@adibe_victory) March 19, 2021
Me restarting my phone 100th time in last 5 minutes without knowing that Whatsapp and instagram crashed.
— ︎ ︎ (@VardhanForNTR) March 19, 2021
*Le Mark Zuckerberg: #instagramdown #Facebookdown #whatsappdown pic.twitter.com/HK59xCSFu0
To all of you who is weeping for WhatsApp Rn #whatsappdown pic.twitter.com/ztwvo4Sv6U
— Not_Shafqat Mehmood (@aint_your_guy) March 19, 2021
People coming on twitter to check whether whatsapp is down #WhatsAppDown #instagramdown pic.twitter.com/7y7Bch5sNP
— Udit🪖 (@udit0201) March 19, 2021
IOL