Facebook down on Super Tuesday? Some users are reporting outages on primary election day

Facebook users may have encountered the social media site not working properly on the morning of Super Tuesday.

Around 9 a.m. ET, hundreds of thousands of users reported Facebook being down during one of the biggest election days of the year, according to Downdetector.

Many users were reporting being logged out of Facebook accounts with no ability to log back in.

It's unclear when Facebook will be back online for some users as polls begin opening for primary voters.

Andy Stone, the director of communications for Meta, said in an X post, "We're aware people are having trouble accessing our services. We are working on this now."

We're aware people are having trouble accessing our services. We are working on this now.

— Andy Stone (@andymstone) March 5, 2024

USA TODAY contacted Meta, Facebook's parent company, but did not receive an immediate response.

In addition to Facebook's outages, users of Meta-owned apps Instagram and WhatsApp are also experiencing issues.

Super Tuesday live updates: Much at stake in primary elections for Trump, Haley and America

Merriam-Webster says 'time to bust out your Dictionary' amid Facebook outage

Facebook and other Meta applications are down, so social media is reacting accordingly, including Merriam-Webster.

"Facebook and IG are down - time to bust out your Dictionary," the publisher said in an X post. "Let’s. Go."

Facebook and IG are down - time to bust out your Dictionary.

Let’s. Go.

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) March 5, 2024

Facebook joins tech giants in pledging to crackdown in AI deepfakes for 2024 Election

Last month, Facebook pledged to join other tech companies - under pressure from the White House - in cracking down on artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes that could undermine the integrity of major democratic elections in the U.S. and overseas this year.

The deepfakes in question are videos, images, and audio that alter or fake the appearance, voice, or actions of political candidates, election officials or other key figures in a democratic election. These alterations can also be used to mislead voters about when, where and how to vote.

The accord is similar to a voluntary pledge many of the same companies signed in July after a meeting at the White House.

-Jessica Guynn