KEEP calm and don't panic but users are reporting problems with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp this afternoon, Wednesday. 

All three appear to have crashed with the first signs of the sites returning around 5pm. 

Social media users have taken to Twitter to complain and vent their frustrations. 

According to DownDetector, the independent outage monitor, the issues are affecting the whole of the UK and parts of America with the first complaints timed around 3pm. 

Users are largely reporting problems with pictures.

On Instagram, users can view the feed but can't post any pictures while on WhatsApp users appear to be able to send and receive messages as long as there isn't a picture attached. 

Pictures are also not appearing on Facebook. 

According to national reports, the last time all three of Facebook's major services broke, the outage lasted for many hours affecting millions of people.

It later blamed that problem on a server issue that had a knock-on effect on Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as Facebook, since the three use shared infrastructure.