Instagram service returned to normal Wednesday afternoon after a two-hour disruption that left thousands of users across the United States unable to access the platform, according to outage tracking data. The Meta-owned social media app experienced widespread issues beginning around noon Eastern Time, with reports peaking at nearly 17,000 incidents before service was restored.
The outage underscores the vulnerability of digital platforms that millions rely on for communication and business, marking the second major Instagram disruption this year.
Reports of service interruptions began flooding Downdetector.com around 12 p.m. ET on July 2, with 16,747 incidents logged by 11:40 a.m. ET, according to Reuters1. The tracking website, which monitors outages by collecting status reports from multiple sources, showed the primary complaints centered on app functionality, which accounted for 67% of user reports2.
By 12:10 p.m. ET, the disruption had largely subsided, with incident reports dropping to 849, indicating most users had regained access to the platform34. Feed update issues represented 26% of complaints, while login problems accounted for 6% of reports, according to data from Times of India2.
While the United States bore the brunt of the outage, international users also reported problems. India registered approximately 650 outage reports during the same timeframe1. Users experiencing difficulties found themselves unable to refresh feeds, send messages, or access basic app functions.
The disruption prompted the familiar migration of frustrated users to other social platforms, particularly X, where they sought confirmation that the service issues were widespread rather than isolated to their individual accounts.
Wednesday's outage follows a more severe Instagram disruption in March 2025 that affected tens of thousands of users across the US1. That earlier incident lasted approximately 12 hours for some users, with Downdetector recording a peak of over 31,000 user reports before services returned to normal1.
The March outage showed similar patterns, with 72% of affected users reporting problems with the Instagram app itself, while 24% cited server connection issues1. The recurring nature of these disruptions raises questions about the platform's infrastructure resilience as it serves hundreds of millions of daily active users.
Meta Platforms, Instagram's parent company, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment regarding Wednesday's outage2. The company has not disclosed the cause of either disruption, maintaining its typical silence during service interruptions that have become a familiar pattern for users of its platforms.
