INTERNET users are reporting widespread outages of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.

The three popular social media platforms, all owned by Facebook, went offline around 4pm this afternoon.

Users on Facebook saw a message from the platform saying "something is wrong" or an error page from their browser which said they are unable to connect to the website.

According to Downdetector, a rapid rise in reported issues took place from around 4pm, with 43 per cent of reports suggesting problems with server connection.

The website says 31 per cent of reports have raised issues with apps, while another 26 per cent have cited issues with sending messages on the networks.

Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone said on Twitter: "We're aware that some people are having rouble accessing our apps and products.

"We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologise for any inconveience."

Amid the outage, people have taken to Twitter to express their frustration, with WhatsApp and #facebookdown both trending on the platform.

Many users said they took to Twitter to confirm others have also suffered the same problem with the social networks.

It is currently unclear what is the cause of the outage, although a similar outage in 2019 was blamed on an issue during routine maintenance.

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