You’re staring at a blank screen or a "session expired" message that won't go away. We've all been there. It’s that moment of mild panic where you wonder if your account was hacked or if the world’s biggest social network finally just... quit. If you’re asking "is Facebook down today," the answer is usually more complicated than a simple yes or no.
Right now, as of January 16, 2026, things are actually looking pretty stable for most people. But "stable" is a relative term when you have billions of users. Earlier this month, specifically back on January 8, we saw a massive global crash that knocked out everything from Messenger to Meta Quest headsets for hours. If you're feeling some digital "aftershocks" or weird glitches today, you aren't alone, but it doesn't look like a total blackout is happening this morning.
Why Facebook keeps acting up in 2026
Honestly, the infrastructure behind Meta is mind-bogglingly huge. When it breaks, it breaks big. Recent reports from monitoring services like StatusGator and DownDetector have shown that while the main "blue app" might be loading for you, certain features—like the Meta Content Library or specific business APIs—have been flickering in and out of existence over the last 24 hours.
Just a few days ago, on January 13, there was a confirmed "Down" status that lasted for over 11 hours. That’s a long time for a company that literally prints money through ad impressions.
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Most of these hiccups come down to what the engineers call "server misconfigurations." Basically, someone pushes an update to the routing protocols, and suddenly the data centers can't talk to each other. It’s like a giant game of telephone where the middle person suddenly starts speaking a language nobody else understands. Everything just stops.
The "Session Expired" trap
One of the most annoying things people are seeing today is the constant logout. You're scrolling, and suddenly you're kicked to the login screen. This isn't always a server-wide outage. Often, it's a security "handshake" failure.
If you see this, don't immediately assume the worst. Sometimes Meta resets tokens when they detect a spike in bot activity or when they are rolling out a new security patch—which, ironically, they've been doing a lot of since the January 8 mess.
How to tell if it's just you or everyone else
Before you go rebooting your router or deleting the app, you need to verify the chaos. There’s a specific hierarchy of checking these things that actually works.
- The Meta Status Page: This is for developers, but it’s the most "official" source. If you see red dots there, it’s a bad day at the office for Mark Zuckerberg.
- DownDetector: This is the "people’s choice" for outage tracking. If you see a vertical line on that graph that looks like a skyscraper, Facebook is definitely down.
- The "Twitter" (X) Test: Just search for #FacebookDown. If the hashtag is trending, you can safely put your phone down and go get a coffee.
Realistically, if you're on a Verizon connection, you might still be feeling the sting from their massive nationwide outage on January 14. A lot of people blamed Facebook for "not loading" when, in reality, their 5G was just stuck in SOS mode. It's easy to mix the two up when nothing on your phone is working.
Practical steps to fix your feed
If the status pages say everything is "Up" but your app is still a ghost town, try these things in this exact order. No, "turning it off and on again" isn't a meme; it actually clears the cache.
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Force close the app. Don’t just swipe away; go into your settings and hit "Force Stop." It's satisfying.
Check your Wi-Fi. Toggle it off and try using your mobile data. If it works on data but not Wi-Fi, your DNS might be acting funky.
Check for an update in the App Store or Play Store. Meta often pushes "hotfixes" after a major outage to patch the bugs they accidentally created while trying to fix the original bug.
Clear the cache (Android) or Offload the app (iOS). This gets rid of the temporary junk files that might be corrupted.
Wait. Seriously. Sometimes Meta is doing "rolling updates" where one region is down while another is fine. You might just be in the unlucky 10% for an hour.
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Check your account status. Believe it or not, some people think Facebook is "down" when they've actually been flagged for a community standards violation. Check your email. Meta has been aggressively sending out "recommendation" bans recently, especially to business pages in the wine and spirits industry, which has caused a ton of confusion. If your page looks "broken," it might just be restricted.
Verify your login on a desktop. If the mobile app is spinning its wheels, try logging in via a browser on a laptop. If the browser version works, the problem is localized to your phone's app or its specific installation.
Next steps for you:
Check DownDetector to see if there is a sudden spike in your specific city. If there are fewer than 500 reports globally, the issue is likely your local network or a bug in your specific app version. If reports are in the thousands, grab a book—Facebook will likely be back within two to three hours based on recent recovery timelines.