Meta owned social media giant Instagram is facing issue globally in the app on Wednesday i.e., 11th March 2026. Thousands of users reported that they were not able to send or receive messages while some also had issues in loading their feeds or using the app normally. The glitch affected the messaging feature named “Direct Messages”
What is the issue
As per the outage tracking website Downdetector, the issue started around 8:45 AM IST on March 11, 2026. In a short period of time, many users’ complaints increased rapidly. Initially there were few hundred reports, but soon the number of reports rose to more than 10,000 reports globally. This portrays that the issue was affecting a large number of users at the same time.
Several users reported that they could open the Instagram app but could not send messages while other users reported that messages showed a “failed to send” notification or that older chats were not loading properly. A group of users also said their feed stopped refreshing or the app became slow. The data showed that about 71 per cent of the complaints were regarding the issue related to mobile app, while 20 per cent were linked to server connection issue while a smaller number of users experienced problems with their feeds.
Public Reaction
The outage affected users in different parts of the world, consisting of India and several major cities in the US such as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Washington. Many people shared their experience on X. Some users joked about the situation, while others said that they have been blocked or ignored when their messages were not delivered.
Meta’s Response
Despite of large number of complaints, Meta has not released any official statement clarifying the issue. The experts have suggested that users not to delete or reinstall the app because the issue was likely caused by a server issue on Instagram’s side.
Syed Ziyauddin is a media and international relations enthusiast with a strong academic and professional foundation. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Media from Jamia Millia Islamia and a Master’s in International Relations (West Asia) from the same institution.
He has work with organizations like ANN Media, TV9 Bharatvarsh, NDTV and Centre for Discourse, Fusion, and Analysis (CDFA) his core interest includes Tech, Auto and global affairs.
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