WhatsApp and Instagram are currently offline worldwide. So if you are having trouble messaging your friends and family, or get a “5xx Server Error” on Instagram, you aren’t alone.
![5XX Server down error on Instagram](https://www.ilounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2021-03-20-at-1.49.02-am-1024x474.png)
At the time of publishing this article, #WhatsApp and #Instagramdown had gone trending on Twitter. Users around the world expressed their feelings regarding the downtime.
![WhatsApp and Instagram down](https://www.ilounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/WhatsApp-and-Instagram-down.jpg)
It’s unclear what could be causing WhatsApp and Instagram to go offline worldwide at the same time. According to us at iLounge, it most likely looks like a network side issue at Facebook’s datacentre where WhatsApp and Instagram might be hosted on the same network. After all, both of them belong to Facebook.
When trying to connect to the WhatsApp desktop version, the QR code also continued to fail to generate.
Such downtime can cause the company a huge loss in revenue. According to statista, Instagram has generated over $18 billion in 2021, breaking all its previous records. That being said, Instagram could be losing millions due to a few minutes of downtime.
No official statements have been provided for the downtime caused. As this story is still developing, we are to update this article as soon as new information is available.
Update: According to rumors, WhatsApp and Instagram servers are under a DDOS attack from China.
Update: According to new reports on Twitter, it appears that many Facebook users around the world are having trouble accessing Messenger and Facebook as well.
Update: Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger are all back online. The reason for the downtime remains unknown.