Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram down due to DNS outage

Image: Barefoot Communications

Users worldwide are reporting that they are unable to access Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, instead seeing errors that the sites can't be reached.

When attempting to open any of the three sites, they are given DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN errors and advised to check if there is a typo in the domain entered in the address bar.

"This site can't be reached. Check if there is a typo in facebook.com. If spelling is correct, try running Windows Network Diagnostics," the error message says.

Mobile users are also reporting that the company's apps are not working, and they are seeing "Please check your internet connection and try again later."

At the moment, Facebook's .onion site is also down, showing the same DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error as the one shown by the company's clear web sites.

It is unknown if this is a planned outage, a problem with the three platforms' servers, or the services being attacked. 

Image: BleepingComputer

A Facebook spokesperson was not immediately available for comment when contacted by BleepingComputer earlier today.

While the company has not yet provided an explanation for this outage, in BleepingComputer's tests, the Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp DNS servers are not responding, which would suggest that this is a DNS configuration or server issue.

Image: BleepingComputer

Based on user reports available on the outage.report and from conversations with users worldwide, this outage is currently impacting mostly US and European users.

However, until an explanation or status update is issued by Facebook, it's likely that the rest of their users haven't yet noticed it because they're offline.

Image: outage.report

Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp have now acknowledged the ongoing outage on Twitter and said they're working on getting back online as soon as possible.

Image: BleepingComputer

This is a developing story ...