Instagram said it was looking into an issue that had locked out a large number of users on Monday morning.
Some users said they saw a message saying they were locked out but could still scroll through their feeds. Others who commented on Twitter said they had been completely shut out. Some users reported that their number of followers had decreased, presumably because their accounts had been locked.
The platform confirmed the issue on Twitter, stating:
“We’re aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account. We’re looking into it and apologize for the inconvenience.”
We’re aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account. We’re looking into it and apologize for the inconvenience. #instagramdown
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) October 31, 2022
Around 8:30 a.m. Eastern, the number of people reporting being locked out of their accounts began to rise.
It was unclear whether the issue was internal or if the social media site had been hacked.
“We’re working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and apologize for the inconvenience,”said a spokesperson for Meta.
Users flooded social media platforms with complaints, and Instagram acknowledged the issue on Twitter at 10:14 a.m. Eastern time. Within a few hours, the tweet had received over 14,000 comments and had been retweeted over 40,000 times.
We’ve been able to access some previously “suspended” accounts as of 11:55AM ET, and reports collected by DownDetector appear to be decreasing.
