However image metadata service seems to be up, this is what I see for most images on FB now.

https://imgur.com/a/uC2L354

I'm pretty sure this data is kept in MySQL and memcached.

My concern there is my understanding has always been that WhatsApp implements end to end encryption through the Signal protocol, how can images be stored and be considered end-to-end encrypted? So are only text messages end-to-end? Ignoring logs being uploaded to the cloud.

I wouldn't send any sensitive pictures over WhatsApp then.

Because the actual data for those images, that is stored on Facebook's media servers, is just a blob of ciphertext. Only the sending and receiving clients actually have the keys, not the servers.

E2E encryption doesn't mean P2P networking. Data still flows through servers.

Probably blob store, not just image store.

Could also be a networking issue.

If network capacity is severely reduced, the bulk static content (images/media) is what you'd switch off first.

The fact it's global makes that unlikely tho.

That’s also what it looks like to me. The services themselves work and are responsive here. But oh boy, images have been down for the longest time now for being top websites.

On Instagram, ad posts still fully display. Would that be a different image store or delivery?

Probably a good opportunity for more people to realize that all three services belong to the same company.

It’s common knowledge.

For HN readers sure