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Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp appear to have been restored for users after a worldwide outage that lasted more than six hours.
Earlier
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have gone offline for users across the globe, the social media giant says, as it works on restoring its services.
"We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products," Facebook said on Twitter.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the issue affecting the services but the error message on the webpage of Facebook Inc suggested a problem with Domain Name System (DNS).
DNS allows web addresses to take users to their destinations.
The company did not say what might be causing the outage.
On Twitter, Facebook policy communications director Andy Stone said the company was aware of the reported problems and "working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible".
Facebook's internal systems used by employees also went down, the Associated Press reported.
Regarding the internal failures, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, tweeted that it feels like a "snow day".
Security experts tracking the situation said the outage could have been triggered by a configuration error, which could be the result of an internal mistake although sabotage by an insider would be theoretically possible.
An outside hack was viewed as less likely.
- with AP and AAP
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