Facebook, Instagram Crash Worldwide, Social Media Giant 'Apologizes For Inconvenience'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Facebook, along with its Instagram and What's App platforms, crashed Monday morning.
Users were unable to access those sites, starting around 11:45 a.m., Eastern Time.
Facebook et. al. went to Twitter to confirm the outage.
We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.
— Meta (@Meta) October 4, 2021
As of 1 p.m., the sites were still down.
Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we're on it! #instagramdown
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) October 4, 2021
The reason for the outage, which has been reported worldwide, was not immediately known.
We're aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We're working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible.
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) October 4, 2021
Thanks for your patience!
On Sunday, in her first interview, former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley about what she called "systemic" problems with the platform's ranking algorithm that led to the amplification of "angry content" and divisiveness. Evidence of that, she said, is in the company's own internal research. Security experts with Facebook told the New York Times that a hack was unlikely because the differences in technology behind the company's various apps.
Other security experts are looking at a problem with the company's Domain Name System (DNS) records, which apparently have disappeared. The DNS is essentially the internet's phone book, directing users to specific sites and platforms.
Confirmed: The DNS records that tell systems how to find https://t.co/qHzVq2Mr4E or https://t.co/JoIPxXI9GI got withdrawn this morning from the global routing tables. Can you imagine working at FB right now, when your email no longer works & all your internal FB-based tools fail?
— briankrebs (@briankrebs) October 4, 2021
"Facebook's mission is to connect people all around the world," said Haugen. "When you have a system that you know can be hacked with anger, it's easier to provoke people into anger. And publishers are saying, 'Oh, if I do more angry, polarizing, divisive content, I get more money.' Facebook has set up a system of incentives that is pulling people apart."