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Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are down this afternoon with users around the globe complaining they can't get in.

All three of the social networks - which belong to Facebook - have been having issues since 11am today.

Monitoring website downdetector.co.uk has received thousands of complaints across the UK, Europe and parts of the US.

A spokesperson for Facebook told Sky News the issues had since been resolved.

Hundreds of people earlier took to Twitter to report the issues with the family of apps run by Facebook.

Those hoping to log on were being presented with an error message saying the site "can't be reached".

(Image: Getty Images)

As a result, people were unable to also access Facebook Messenger on PCs or laptops.

There were further complaints of login problems on mobile phones and laptops.

Hitting out at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg, one user wrote: "Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp are down. Thank you Zuckerburg, great service."

A second chipped in: "Facebook, we have a problem."

Jamie Strachan tweeted: "Here we go again. Facebook and Instagram are down and now everyone will rush to Twitter to complain about it."

Many people seemed baffled as to why the sites were experiencing issues yet again as this is far from the first time the sites have gone dark.

They have been plagued with technical difficulties, with outages lasting hours sometimes.

Downdector.co.uk has received more than six thousands reports of problems on Facebook since 11am on Sunday and 4,000 relating to Instagram.

It was not clear what the problem iwwas but the outages were being reported world wide.

The issue also appears to have hit other countries - with users in Morocco, Ukraine, the Philippines, Nepal and Greece also complaining.

A Facebook spokesperson said: "We're aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps.

"We're working to resolve the issue as soon as possible."

As ever when these outages take place, social media users take to Twitter to share the inevitable gifs and memes.

Facebook experienced one of its longest outages just last month, when some users around the globe faced trouble accessing Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp for more than 24 hours.

In March we reported on Facebook and Instagram going down for at hours in the UK.

Users in the US, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Mexico and parts of Europe also faced similar problems.

At the time, Facebook said it hadn't been as a result of a hack.

The service failures come at a tough time for social media giants, with increasing calls for better self regulation.

Earlier this month Zuckerberg told politicians in Ireland that the company would work with governments to establish new policies in a bid to regulate social media.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

And a a long-awaited Government white paper says such firms will be legally required to protect their users - with senior management held personally liable if they do not comply with new rules around harmful content.

The joint proposal on online harms from the Home Office and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport says a regulator will be appointed to ensure internet firms meet their responsibilities, which will be outlined in a mandatory duty of care.

The duty of care will require firms to take more responsibility for the safety of users and more actively tackle the harm caused by content or activity on their platforms.

The regulator will have the power to issue "substantial fines, block access to sites and potentially impose liability on individual members of senior management", the proposal says.