Instagram down: Facebook-owned app faces global outrage as it refutes to load pictures, profile

Photo-sharing app Instagram on Wednesday experienced some technical glitches and over 1 billion users across the world faced difficulty in using the application.

The app displayed an error message saying “couldn’t refresh feed”, while its website did not load for users. (Image: AFP)

Instagram down: Photo-sharing app Instagram on Wednesday experienced some technical glitches and over 1 billion users across the world faced difficulty in using the application. According to media reports, the error in the application was related to uploading and viewing of pictures in the feed as well as other’s profile photos. However, after sometime the error was checked and reportedly application is running perfectly now. According to a check by Reuters, the app displayed an error message saying “couldn’t refresh feed”, while its website did not load for users. Facebook and Instagram were not immediately available to comment. Users were instead greeted with empty profiles and a message that the app ‘cannot refresh feed’. Even the web version of the Instagram app faced the same issue. Heading to any page brought up only a "5xx Server Error" message. Soon after the error came into light, users took to social media to complaint about the issue. User started posting memes and jokes on the micro-blogging site as it went down. DownDetector’s live outage map showed that parts of North America, Europe, Australia, India, Singapore and other countries were facing issues with the service. The global outage comes after Instagram announced on Monday that long-term insider Adam Mosseri will take over as the new head of the photo-sharing app, a week after its co-founders resigned. The app has more than one billion active monthly users and has grown by adding features such as messaging and short videos. Soon after the app went down, people started speculating hack threats as its parent company Facebook recently became a victim of data breach. However, nothing as such has been reported or said by the company officials. The company has on Monday appointed Instagram product head and former high-ranking executive of Facebook Adam Mosseri as the ‘new boss’ of Instagram. Mosseri was replaced by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger who abruptly parted ways with the company following a brawl last month.