For more than ten hours, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp had many problems with multimedia content: here's what happened
A day that WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram users will remember for a long time: a blackout that began at 16:00 and lasted until one in the morning on Thursday created several problems for the three applications of the Menlo Park company. It was not a real down, users were still able to use the three services, but with many limitations.
The problem mainly concerned multimedia content. On WhatsApp you couldn't download images, videos and voice notes sent by your friends, while on Instagram there were big difficulties in uploading new content and seeing Stories posted by people you follow. The same problems were also present on Facebook: new posts published by friends were not visible and instead of images and videos there was a large gray screen.
For many hours, users searched online for an explanation to the down of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook without, however, finding an explanation. From the company of Menlo Park there have been no official communications on the causes that led to the malfunction of the three applications. Only at one o'clock in the morning on Twitter came the official communication that the three services were working again.
How come WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook didn't work
Two rather tight messages on Twitter at 1:45 and 1:49 Thursday night to communicate that the services were working again. But without a real explanation as to why WhatsApp didn't work for more than ten hours. This is the communication strategy chosen by Facebook to inform its users about what happened in the day of July 3.
There are many hypotheses put forward in recent hours on the causes that led to the WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook down. One of the most likely concerns problems with the servers of the three applications, but confirmations in this sense there are none. Some experts have blamed the tests that Facebook is carrying out in recent months to unify the three messaging platforms: WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram Direct. Already last March, the three applications had this kind of problem, causing a down that lasted several hours.
A possible explanation comes directly from a Facebook spokesperson who released a statement to the Reuters news agency. Following normal maintenance operations of the three applications, a bug was discovered that caused difficulties for users and made it impossible to upload and download multimedia content. The problems were finally resolved in the night between Wednesday and Thursday and now you can fully use the full functionality of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.