Facebook users complained of being unable to access the site after it appeared to crash on Saturday afternoon.

Thousands of people said they were experiencing problems logging onto the website and app, loading posts or sending messages, although others reported no problems.

According to UK site DownDetector, which collects reports of website crashes, the problems on Facebook began at around 2.15pm on Saturday.

People were unable to log onto the website for around an hour, while even more people reported problems loading photo site Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.

At its peak there were more than 1,500 reports of Facebook users experiencing problems getting onto the website – including some who described the problems on DownDetector as a “total blackout”.

Others reported more milder problems such as trouble logging in or loading pictures, while some were unable to use the Facebook Messenger app.

https://twitter.com/puraanigali/stat...38388460339209

According to pictures on social media, some users received a message which read: "Facebook will be back soon.

"Facebook is down for maintenance right now, but you should be able to get on within a few hours."

Thousands of people took to social media to report the issue and poke fun with mock-dramatic tweets.

https://twitter.com/LouiseDiscovery/...47958796787718

https://twitter.com/snjv52/status/901446062015164416

True in morning was impossible to access from my country. Now it's okey.