Facebook, Instagram are back, and Twitter has thoughts

Facebook has risen once more to dispense chain posts, conspiracy theories, and group chat snark. The platform is now back up and running after the six-hour outage, ready to suck our feeble brains back into the tar pit of the internet.

The social media website experienced a massive outage on Monday when it suddenly went down for users across the globe. And it wasn't the only service that vanished. The company's other platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and even its internal communications system Workplace also stopped working, leaving millions of people unexpectedly without their primary social apps.

It was chaos, with many venturing onto Twitter to joke about the collapse of society. Though Facebook is notorious for facilitating the spread of misinformation and stoking social divisions — practices that former employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen called out on Sunday — millions of people also rely on its services for basic, everyday communication.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), Facebook is now operational once more, which should help ease any concerns Mark Zuckerberg might have about falling stock prices. Mashable's tests found Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp are also stumbling back to their feet. Results have been mixed, with WhatsApp still struggling for some, but it's only a matter of time until they all return.

Twitter users are alternately celebrating or lamenting Facebook's restoration. Both reactions seem fair.

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