[Official response] Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram down in Indonesia after Jakarta riots

There are new updates that have been added at the bottom of the story…

Original story:

Is the Instagram app or website acting glitchy for you? Well, if yes, then find solace in the fact that you aren’t alone. We’re seeing a growing number of user reports that say Instagram is currently down for them.

Here are some reports:

https://twitter.com/cakraprs/status/1131057181527199744

https://twitter.com/salmapermanaa/status/1131056992267657216

BTW just a few days back, main stream tech media highlighted how millions of Instagram users’ contact data, email address and other info like their bio, profile picture, number of followers and more was left exposed online. And now the service is down and not working for a huge chunk of users.

Most of the reports that we came across on Twitter are either in Malaysian or Indonesian languages, suggesting the Instagram outage may be limited to some Asian countries at the moment.

Going by English translation of these reports, it appears either the Instagram app is crashing on opening, or users can’t upload/send a pic. It’s worth mentioning that many reports say even WhatsApp – which like Instagram is also owned by Facebook – is down for them.

Recently, WhatsApp was also in news headlines because of a vulnerability that led to the risk of spyware attack on users’ phones. The team behind the Facebook-owned platform moved quickly to fix the issue, something it did by deploying strong server-side protections.

Coming back to the outage, while we try to dig out more information on the matter, if you are affected by this outage, comment below to let us know exactly what difficulty are you facing accessing Instagram or WhatsApp at the moment.

A quick look at DownDetector’s live outage map reveals Indonesia and Malaysia are the two regions that are primarily affected by this outage. Here’s a screenshot of the WhatsApp outage map:

And if you take a look at the latest comments below, you’ll see users complaining about WhatsApp Web being inaccessible:

Some users specifically confirm issue related to sending pics:

Can’t send pics…. Keep on saying “please retry”… Sometimes it works..

Instagram outage seems more widespread as you can see even parts of the US as well as some other regions are also affected by it. Even some US users are confirming that Instagram is down for them.

The following comment was posted on the Down Detector website about an hour ago:

We hear u indo. Same here in usa

There are reports of riots in Jakarta (Indonesia). Presumably because of this, social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram have been temporarily shut down in the country.

Facebook has given the following statement to TechCrunch about this issue:

We are aware of the ongoing security situation in Jakarta and have been responsive to the Government of Indonesia. We are committed to maintaining all of our services for people who rely on them to communicate with their loved ones and access vital information

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