Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went down and Tweetmageddon happened – 35 of the best
On Monday evening, if you were one of the hundreds of thousands of people who felt the urge to post
‘Only a true friend will copy and paste this status to their feed. I’m leaving this up for one hour to see which of you are my true friends’
you’ll have been out of luck, because Facebook was down.
Nor could you have consoled yourself by posting a picture of your dinner on Facebook-owned Instagram, because that was down too. To cap it all, you wouldn’t even have had the option to rant about it in the neighbourhood WhatsApp group, because Facebook also owns that.
Didn’t there used to be a Monopolies Commission?
Here’s how the sites confirmed it was an outage, but probably only after you’d switched your phone off and on again a couple of times and waved it about to try and get a better signal.
We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.
— Facebook (@Facebook) October 4, 2021
Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we’re on it! #instagramdown
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) October 4, 2021
We’re aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We’re working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible.
Thanks for your patience!
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) October 4, 2021
More than 10 million problems were reported to Facebook, who say that the issue was a ‘faulty configuration change’ which was complicated to repair – or this:
If you need to know what’s up with Facebook in the simplest possible terms, here you go. https://t.co/fhoSvwr8mg pic.twitter.com/vUTd48Lf0F
— Alistair Coleman (@alistaircoleman) October 4, 2021
As the largest remaining social media site still standing, Twitter not only drew in the temporarily homeless Facebook users, but also served as a site for regular tweeters to indulge in a little playful banter. Oh, okay – it massively took the piss.
1.
Dear Facebook and Instagram people, we don't do Friendversaries on Twitter, but we will do "Look what you tweeted a year ago you god damn hypocrite!"
— Mr. Newberger (@jeremynewberger) October 4, 2021
2.
If twitter goes down too what are we supposed to do? Talk to our families? Like they did in the 80s? Absurd.
— TechnicallyRon (@TechnicallyRon) October 4, 2021
3.
As if this wasn’t bad enough, my carrier pigeon flew into a wood chipper.
— Chris Hewitt (@ChrisHewitt) October 4, 2021
4.
I could tell that Facebook was down because I just found several Cambridge Analytica staff going through my bins & peering through the window.#FacebookDown
— Phlegm Clandango (@Cain_Unable) October 4, 2021
5.
Instagram users wanting to tell you about their food right now pic.twitter.com/pO3YzHhiP6
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) October 4, 2021
6.
"I felt a hundred billion antivaxxers cry out, then fall silent" https://t.co/HrEi64SBhg pic.twitter.com/nQWyJX7ogU
— Stephen McGann💙 (@StephenMcGann) October 4, 2021
7.
Gonna have to find my MySpace log in.
— Emily Atack (@EmAtack) October 4, 2021
8.
yeah what the hell how am I supposed to radicalize my grandmother now https://t.co/oYEAUxjCrA
— Brett ________ (@BrettRedacted) October 4, 2021
9.
So stressful when Facebook is down and you have to scribble your deranged conspiracy theories onto reams of paper, run into the street, and pay a passing urchin to yell them at strangers.
— paul bassett davies (@thewritertype) October 4, 2021
10.
People making jokes about the Facebook services going down make me sick. Anyone who was using an Oculus headset at the time is currently trapped in VR, and if they die there then they die in real life.
— Gavin Young (@GavinDYoung) October 4, 2021
11.
I'm having to run upstairs to fart directly into my daughter's face rather than sending them to her via a voice message.
Sort it out, WhatsApp. https://t.co/ZAsh9CVjMp
— Hannah O'Hanrahahanrahan (@buntyhoven) October 4, 2021
12.
Mark Zuckerberg has concluded his research into rating every woman on Earth and has now shut down Facebook. Thank you all for your cooperation.
— john carpenter's ben schwartz (@benschwartz_) October 4, 2021
13.
Where are all the minion memes going to live now?
— Chris (@_Papaglitch_) October 4, 2021
14.
With Instagram down I’be been forced to read about selfies instead pic.twitter.com/bjXZeGmRzh
— Paul (@bingowings14) October 4, 2021
15.
Don't worry guys, I've just checked Myspace and Bebo and they're still up and running.
— Rosie Jones (@josierones) October 4, 2021
16.
“New job at Facebook going well” says Gavin Williamson.
— Have I Got News For You (@haveigotnews) October 4, 2021
17.
Wonder if Facebook vanishing is giving all the people who have been buying NFTs the heebie jeebies.
— HappyToast ★ (@IamHappyToast) October 4, 2021
18.
Why fixing Facebook is taking so long: pic.twitter.com/swJ6qqnkm3
— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) October 4, 2021