Facebook and Instagram Down for US Users on Sunday Night
Downdetector logged more than 17,000 Facebook reports and over 5,000 for Instagram before both services recovered, with no cause given and no word from Meta.
September 21, 2026 - 7:12 am
Meta Platforms technology company displayed on a mobile device. Credit: gguy via Shutterstock
Facebook and Instagram stopped working for users across the United States on Sunday evening, with the outage tracker Downdetector logging a significant number of reports.
Those are report counts, not user counts. Downdetector tallies issues submitted by users, not the total number of affected individuals.
With roughly two billion daily users, 17,000 Facebook reports and 5,000 Instagram reports represent a notable disruption. Tom’s Guide, tracking the outage live, noted its start time around 9:25 pm ET, indicating an early snapshot rather than a peak.
Meta has remained silent, offering no comment or acknowledgment of the outage. Both services were operational again by US morning, with no restoration timestamp available for any account.
Despite initial concerns about potential disruptions to other Meta services like WhatsApp or Threads, reports specifically named only Facebook and Instagram.
This event, though smaller than a June outage that drew between 110,000 and 130,000 reports and lasted approximately four hours, underscores a recurring pattern of unexplained Meta outages in 2026.
No cause has been publicly attributed to any of these incidents, leaving the root causes a mystery.
For now, the data consists of a chart that rose on Sunday night and fell before morning.
Story by Ana Maria Constantin
With expertise in digital marketing, product management, and branding & identity, Ana Maria Constantin develops strategies that resonate with our target audience in the software/SaaS industry. Collaboration and teamwork are paramount to her, as she loves empowering her colleagues to achieve outstanding results and unlock their full potential.
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