Facebook Messenger DOWN – Chat app not working as users hit by more issues

Facebook Messenger seems to be having issues this morning with reports that the app is down and users not receiving some messages.

It appears the problems began around 9am with users in the UK and Europe reporting the outage.

Down Detector, an independent website that tracks social mentions around certain topics to detect outages across the world, has also seen hundreds of reports about Messenger.

It’s currently unclear what is causing the problems.

Users have now taken to Twitter to complain about the problems with one saying: “Is messenger down as it’s loading on laptop and not phone I’m going mad as I desperately need messages for work.

And another added: “I can’t receive certain messages that have been sent to me or message certain friends highly frustrated.”

This latest outage comes after Facebook had problems with its app yesterday.

Users reported that they couldn’t access the service due to the Facebook application crashing after being opened.

Facebook has now confirmed that issues have been fixed with a spokesperson saying: “We have restored service for those who experienced a technical issue that caused some people to have trouble accessing Facebook on Android.”

This outage comes as Britain’s data watchdog says it intends to fine Facebook £500,000 for breaches of the Data Protection Act.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the social media giant broke the law by failing to safeguard people’s information and failing to be transparent about how people’s data was harvested by others.

Facebook, with Cambridge Analytica, has been the focus of the ICO’s investigation since February when evidence emerged that an app had been used to harvest the data of 50 million Facebook users around the world.

Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said:”People cannot have control over their own data if they don’t know or understand how it is being used.

“That’s why greater and genuine transparency about the use of data analytics is vital.”