TWITTER users are reporting issues with the social media site, with it not loading on the website and app.

A major bug with the social media service is said to be keeping people from leaving to another website.

The issue appears to have started at around 4.30pm on Monday, March 6 with issues within both the app and on the desktop version of the site.

A huge spike in reports was seen on the website DownDetector at this time.

If you try to open a website from Twitter you are met with the message: "{"errors":[{"message":"Your current API plan does not include access to this endpoint, please see https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-api for more information","code":467}]}"

This is causing issues for websites like The National's, as readers cannot access our stories direct from the platform.

However stories can still be read by going directly to thenational.scot, or following our Facebook page for updates.

Meanwhile on Twitter, photographs and videos are also not loading correctly, simply showing bars of colour.

The backend service Tweetdeck is also completely down, showing only the same error code as quoted above.

The web address that the error code suggests users visit for more information (https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-api) frustratingly just brings up the same error code.

The National: Spikes in reports of Twitter being down were seen in the afternoon of Monday, March 6Spikes in reports of Twitter being down were seen in the afternoon of Monday, March 6 (Image: PA)

Is Twitter down?

According to DownDetector, 79% of issues are taking place on the desktop version of the platform, whilst 13% of the issues are to do with the app

There are also issues with the site’s server connection with 8% reporting problems.

More than 1500 Twitter users have reported issues on DownDetector.

DownDetector only reports an incident when the number of problem reports is significantly higher than the typical volume for that time of day.