Chatting service WhatsApp and social networks Facebook and Instagram are slowly but surely returning to the Internet after a major outage. As a result, users have been unable to connect to these services for hours.

Users on social media as of 5:40pm had reported that various services, all owned by parent company Facebook, had been down. Users could not connect to WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram sites were not accessible. Those social media apps can’t be updated either. Facebook Messenger was not usable either.

Thousands of reports have been received on the website allestoringen.nl The WhatsAppAnd Instagram employment Facebook social networking site. The company has not yet responded to the outage and its causes.

Update, 6.28pm: WhatsApp confirms now on Twitter The company is aware of the malfunction, but does not explain the reason. As several trainers have noted in the comments, it appears to be a DNS issue. WhatsApp has reported that it is working on a fix and indicates that it will continue to keep users informed. The company does not express expectations about when the outage will be fixed. thanks for the Anonymous.

Second update, 8.35pm: Cloudflare-SVP danish servant in -to John Graham Cumming Note on Twitter that all bgp tracks on Facebook are gone from the internet. This is amazing Gateway Protocol Used to route data over the Internet, the protocol searches for various possible routes and determines the best path. A Reddit user who claims to work for Facebook claimed earlier tonight at Message has since been deleted that the company’s bgp routers are not connected to the internet. The Redditor states that this was “most likely” due to a configuration change implemented shortly before the crash.

Update 3, 11:14 PM: The New York Times writes Based on an internal Facebook memo that the company sent a “small team of employees” to Facebook’s data center in Santa Clara, California to perform a “manual reset” of the company’s servers. According to the American newspaper, not only the listed services were affected, but also the company’s internal systems, including the company’s communications systems. Employees who work in the office also cannot enter company premises, according to NYT because their access passes do not currently work. Unidentified Facebook employees tell the newspaper that it is “unlikely” that this was a cyber attack.

Update 4, 11:30 PM: slowly appearing Bagha activity From Facebook, Cloudflare cto Graham-Cumming also notes on Twitter. The CEO wrote that this could be an indication that they will be back online soon. Facebook status page He does it again now. Because of the outage, that page was also down earlier. Other Facebook services are not working at the time of writing. thanks for the J0kerNL.

Update 5, 23.50: The end of the hiatus appears to be in sight. Tweakers confirmed that it is now possible to send WhatsApp messages again. Instagram and Facebook are also occasionally available, although they are still slow and not fully functional. The Facebook status page currently indicates that the company’s services are offline. The article has been adapted accordingly.