Facebook blames 'configuration problem' after thousands of users across the U.S. and Europe were locked out of the site
Facebook has said a 'configuration change' is believed to be responsible for causing problems for thousands of users in the United States and Europe on Friday night, with some unable to access the site and others reporting that porn had flooded their video feeds.
Downdetector.com which measures website problems saw the problems start to occur around 10pm EST. At least 4,800 users in the U.S. reported on Downdetector that they were unable to log in.
It seemed the problem was mostly resolved on Saturday morning, although some users still reported problems.
'We're looking into reports that some people are currently having to login again to access their Facebook accounts,' the company said in a statement. 'We believe this was due to a configuration change and we're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.'
The most common issue appeared to revolve around those attempting to log in to the site - which they were unable to do.
Those attempting to open their Facebook app on their phones were signed out and upon attempting to sign in.
Some users reported their video feeds were full of pornographic videos.
Facebook appeared to be offline on Friday night to some users in the United States and Europe leaving thousands of users across the globe unable to access their profiles or use the chat services during a widespread outage
Outage affected users located in the UK and Europe, however it was the middle of the night
Some users say they were able to log back in while others said they were waiting to receive a code from Facebook.
'Thank goodness it's not just me i was getting super worried... also said session expired for me and i'm not receiving the code when my phone number on file is most definitely correct,' wrote one user online.
'Session expired - says password is invalid. When try to reset it says my account doesn't exist!' added another frustrated user.
'My boyfriend and I have both been logged out. It will not let me trusted contacts recover my account. I have no access to my email and it will not send me the code. I know my password is correct because I changed it yesterday,' chimed another frustrated Facebook user.
The site appeared to run trouble-free for much of the day until 10pm EST when issues started
Some users who managed to regain access to their accounts said that the were bombarded with pornography when looking at the video section of the site.
'All joking side , there is a serious issue right now with Facebook. Please read and keep your kids FAR AWAY from this app right now. YIKES,' wrote Mary Katherine Backstrom.
'If you go to Facebook Watch and type in 'videos', It is all porn… Definitely keep your kiddos off in case something pops up.'
The NYPD also released a statement on Twitter regarding the outage.
'Did you get logged out of Facebook today? You're not alone, it seems a lot of other people did too.
'While we're not sure why it happened, this is another good reminder to change your passwords on your social media accounts & use a secure password manager to store your new ones.'
The NYPD also released a statement on Twitter regarding the outage reminding users to change their passwords
Some users who managed to regain access to their accounts said that the were bombarded with pornography when looking at the video section of the site
Several people noted the Facebook outages on other social media platforms that were still up
It wasn't long before some humorous memes were circulating online about the outage