Facebook down: App kicks users out of their accounts and doesn't let them back in

Some of the messages appear terrifying, but are actually because the site is broken

Andrew Griffin
Friday 24 February 2017 19:27 GMT
Comments
A view of an Apple iPhone displaying the Facebook app's splash screen May 10, 2012 in Washington DC.
A view of an Apple iPhone displaying the Facebook app's splash screen May 10, 2012 in Washington DC. (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Facebook is kicking people out of their accounts and won't let them back in.

The issues appear to be the result of key parts of the Facebook infrastructure not working.

Some people are seeing strange alerts, like the site telling them that all of their messages have been deleted for being spam. Others are sent back to the login screen and then told that their accounts can't be verified.

Even more concerning messages seem to suggest that a users' account has been hacked and so they have been signed out or their password has been changed. Others request that people change their password because of an apparent hack, but that password will then not work as a way of getting into their account.

But in fact that appears to be the result of a failsafe that means that Facebook's security tools won't let people log in if there appears to be an issue with the servers that allow them to do so.

The problems are occurring across the world, according to the website Down Detector. In particular they are hitting Europe and the East coast of the US, but that might be a consequence of time zones rather than the geography of the problems.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in