"We Didn't Cause It," Tweets CIA After #InstagramDown Outrage

Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook users around the globe reported problems accessing and using the social media platforms on Wednesday. The outage on all the Facebook-owned services led to a collective meltdown on Twitter - a microblogging website that was, thankfully, still up and running. But even as netizens across the world vented their frustration on Twitter, and hashtags like #InstagramDown and #FacebookDown found their way to the trends list, a tweet from USA's Central Intelligence Agency provided some comic relief.

The CIA took to Twitter to inform netizens that they, too, were affected by Instagram issues. They also denied being the cause of the problem, and added that they could not fix it.

The agency, which joined Instagram in April this year, wrote: "Yes, we are affected by #instagramdown, too. No, we didn't cause it. No, we can't fix yours. Did you try turning it off and back on again?"

Yes, we are affected by #instagramdown, too. No, we didn't cause it. No, we can't fix yours. Did you try turning it off and back on again?

— CIA (@CIA) July 3, 2019

Their funny tweet has gone viral with over 23,000 'likes' and more than 6,500 'retweets'.

Take a look at some of the amused reactions CIA's tweet received:

pic.twitter.com/spPXvbhTo7

— Joe Rant (@JoeRant2) July 4, 2019

I think this might be the funniest tweet....ever!! 😂

— rin (@Listen2Braille) July 3, 2019

An intelligence agency with a sense of humor. You don't see that every day. https://t.co/0D27Z7njzb

— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) July 4, 2019

Not everyone, however, bought CIA's denial of involvement in Instagram's outage:

I wasn't gonna blame you but this loud denial is rather suspicious, so..

— Lesley Carhart (@hacks4pancakes) July 4, 2019

pic.twitter.com/kL6iGAC8Ti

— Chicago Mike 2.0 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇺🇸 (@ChicagoMGD_SD) July 3, 2019

Facebook said it was "back at 100 percent" Wednesday evening. A Facebook spokesperson, also speaking on behalf of Instagram and WhatsApp, explained that a "routine maintenance operation" accidentally triggered a bug that made it difficult for users to upload or send photos and videos.