Facebook, Instagram back after brief global outage

The services of Facebook and Instagram were restored after the social media platforms went down reportedly due to a global connection problem with Europe and North America, the worst affected by the fault.

As per a report in The Guardian, users of both social media sites began reporting problems late Wednesday afternoon. By evening, the number of reported problems had dropped to normal levels.

"Earlier today, a networking issue caused some people to have trouble accessing Facebook services.

"We quickly investigated and started restoring access within about an hour and we have nearly fixed the issue for everyone. We're sorry for the inconvenience," a Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The report said the services on both website and apps were affected. Some users were able to access their accounts, with others suggesting only certain parts of the websites were functioning.

However, Facebook's instant messaging service Messenger was unaffected.

The social media giant said it was "aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing Facebook and Instagram".

The problems led to the hashtag #FacebookDown trending globally on Twitter.

Some users were greeted by a message when they tried to log into their accounts.

"Facebook is down for required maintenance right now, but you should be able to get back on within a few minutes. In the meantime, read more about why you're seeing this message. Thanks for your patience...," the message read.

Facebook, which acquired Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, has over two billion monthly active users. Instagram, meanwhile, has 800 million monthly and 500 million daily active users -- 200 million of whom use 'Stories' feature.