Facebook Apps Hit by Global Outage

Facebook Apps Hit by Global Outage
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Facebook suffered severe problems yesterday which impacted its mobile and desktop sites, as well as its WhatsApp and Instagram applications. The company’s internal systems were also out of service around midday in the US.

The global outage came less than 24 hours after US news programme 60 Minutes revealed the identity of whistleblower Frances Haugen, who has publicised internal Facebook research related to the platform’s alleged amplification of political unrest, and the negative impacts Instagram can have on self-esteem for teens. Facebook has experienced major outages in the past, once in 2019 and once in 2008, although not on this scale.

Facebook and Instagram appeared to be partially reconnected around midnight CET, six hours into an outage that paralyzed platforms. Security experts said the disruption could be the result of an internal mistake.