Facebook restores service after outages across four continents

[TOKYO] Facebook Inc restored desktop and mobile services after users in parts of Asia, Europe and Africa couldn't access the social network.

People in Japan, Hong Kong, Russia, Australia and the UK were able to log in and get updated feeds within an hour of finding the service inaccessible.

The company's Instagram photo sharing service also reported an outage.

On Twitter Inc's service, "#facebookdown" was a trending topic globally, according to the microblogging company.

With more than 1.3 billion users, the Menlo Park, California-based operator of the world's largest social network previously faced interruptions to services, including an outage in August.

Facebook confirmed the loss of service earlier on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the company in Japan wasn't immediately able to comment after services resumed.

Outages also were reported in India, Italy and Singapore.

BLOOMBERG