Instagram was down for over 5 hours for users around the world

Just a few days after the most used messaging network in the world, WhatsApp, suffered a global crash, Instagram has now suffered the same problem.

Instagram had issues this afternoon, with reports of users' accounts being suspended including in Cyprus.

The problems started at around 13:08 GMT and are affecting users around the world, according to online outage monitor DownDetector. 

While the reason for the crash remains unclear, several users have reported their accounts being suspended. 

Others say they are losing followers, potentially due to suspended accounts being removed from their follower counts. 

Instagram has tweeted: 'We're aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account. We're looking into it and apologize for the inconvenience.' 

So far, more than 4,000 issues have been logged on DownDetector, while more than 1,000 have been reported from users in the UK. 

But users who are affected are being given the opportunity to appeal against their suspension, but when they do they see a mysterious black screen. 

Many users took taken to Twitter to discuss the problems they are encountering. 

One user wrote: 'Ok soooo my account got banned for no reason, couldn’t appeal it and now my account is gone. & I’m not the only one.'

Another added: 'My IG acct got suspended just NOW! So many tweets that their acct got suspended too! HELP US INSTAGRAM!'

And one joked: 'Everyone checking in on Twitter when WhatsApp or Instagram or Facebook is down.'  

Yours sincerely was affected too. Thank God we back online.