Instagram Is Back After Global Outage Left Users Confused

On May 21, Instagram stopped working as users worldwide complained that they couldn’t log in or use the photo and video-sharing app. The hashtag ‘My Instagram,’ ‘Y’all Instagram,’ and ‘My IG’ became trended topics on Twitter after users noticed the platform was down. Accordingly, the #Instagramdown became a dominant trend.

Downdectector.com, a website that tracks app outages shows that users’ reports of Instagram being down started spiking at 3:09 pm ET and rose steadily.

Instagram Is Back After Global Outage Left Users Confused — Twitter

Twitter also became flooded with pop culture memes about users’ fear of missing out. Notably, Instagram’s last major outage was on September 22nd. In its update, Instagram has now announced the app is back up via Instagram Comms Twitter account, writing, ‘Instagram is back! Sorry for the trouble – we had a brief outage earlier and resolved the issue that caused it. #instagramdown’

A spokesperson also released a statement to Variety, confirming that, “Earlier today, a technical issue caused some people to have trouble accessing Instagram. We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we’re sorry for any disruption this has caused.” However, it comes as Meta recently announced their ‘Meta Verified’ subscription service, which gives users a blue check-mark.

Meta Verified starts at $11.99 / month on the web or $14.99 / month on iOS and will be rolling out in Australia and New Zealand this week and in more countries soon.

“Good morning and new product announcement: this week we’re starting to roll out Meta Verified, a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support,” Meta chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote while announcing the new program, which is said to be about increasing authenticity and security across services.