Facebook and Instagram down in the UAE and elsewhere in the world

Social media users took to Twitter to find out what was going on

Facebook had a shutdown around the world on Wednesday evening. Reuters

Social media users in the UAE and other parts of the world were frustrated on Wednesday evening when Facebook and Instagram went down.

Some users complained that they were unable to connect to the sites at all, while others reported being unable to tag people or post comments on Facebook posts.

Instead, many took to Twitter to voice their displeasure and try to find out what was going on.

When trying to log into the site, some users were greeted by the message: "Facebook will be back soon."

The social media company posted a message on Twitter saying it was "working to resolve the issue as soon as possible".

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"Facebook is down for required maintenance right now but you should be able to get back on within a few minutes.

"In the meantime, read more about why you're seeing this message. Thanks for your patience as we improve the site."

The website downdetector.com said Facebook was having problems since 7.56pm UAE time and have continued for over eight hours.

Its Facebook map showed failure hotspots in the heavily populated areas of the US, in northern Europe including the UK, and in the UAE.

"We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps. We’re working to resolve the issue as soon as possible,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

Facebook said it was still investigating the overall impact of the issue, "including the possibility of refunds for advertisers."