SHOWBIZ BEAT MEDIA

Netizens were baffled after Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp went offline across the globe. Users had a hard time accessing their social media platforms which were left crippled for six hours. 

Facebook then explained what had transpired and said,  “We wanted to acknowledge  the impact the outage has had on everyone who depends on accessing our apps and services everyday.  To the small businesses discovering new customers, groups bringing people together around shared interests, creators engaging with their communities, and families trying to connect: we’re sorry.”

“We’ve been working hard to restore access and are happy to report our apps and services are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us and continuing to be the best part of Facebook,” they added. 

Mark Zuckerberg uploaded a post on his Facebook account assuring netizens that the platforms are currently working. 

“Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are coming back online now. Sorry for the disruption today. I know how much you rely on your services to stay connected with the people you care about.”

The multinational tech company later on explained, “Our engineering teams have learned that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers caused issues that interrupted this communication. This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt.”

The outage occurred shortly after a whistleblower, Frances Haugen, revealed in an interview with CBS News that the company has prioritized profits over the safety of its users. 

“The thing I saw at Facebook over and over again was there were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook, and Facebook over and over again chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money,” Haugen stated. 

The former Facebook product manager continued on and said, “I’ve seen a bunch of social networks, and it was substantially worse at Facebook than anything I’ve seen before. At some point in 2021, I realized I’m going to have to do this in a systemic way, that I’m going to have to get out enough [documents] that no one can question that this is real.”

Meanwhile, Haugen submitted documents to The Wall Street Journal which showed that Facebook was aware that Instagram was exacerbating body image issues among the youth, and was spreading violence, hate, and misinformation. She also filed a complaint and accused the company  of misleading investors. 

 *Cover Photo/THumbnail Photo from Pexels