Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram suffer worldwide MAJOR OUTAGE

Tracking sites revealed that major social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp experienced a large outage on Monday, potentially affecting tens of millions of users.

The three applications, which are all owned by Facebook and operate on common infrastructure, went offline soon before 5 p.m. Other connected programs, such as Facebook Messenger and Workplace, have also been rendered inoperable.

Users trying to access Facebook in affected areas were greeted with the message: “Something went wrong. We're working on it and we'll get it fixed as soon as we can.”

“We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products,” Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said on Twitter.

Users reported internet issues, but it's most likely Facebook's fault.

Reports of problems with carriers and internet networks are increasing on Down Detector, a service we're probably all getting quite acquainted with these days. In the United States, that includes T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, and others; in the United Kingdom, it includes Virgin Media, BT, Vodafone, Sky, and others.

But it's most likely because Facebook is down, which means Instagram and WhatsApp are down, which means practically everything a lot of people do with their phones is broken. As a result, it appears like the internet as a whole is down. But it isn't.

AOC mocks Facebook’s outage and said on Twitter " In observance of Facebook being down, let’s all share our favorite stories of democracy working in hopeful ways and coolest evidence-based reporting. Bonus points for uplifting others in comments"

Facebook's DNS entries appear to have been removed from the global routing tables. According to Brian Krebs, a cyber security expert and prominent blogger. In somewhat less academic terms, this implies that Facebook.com, Instagram.com, and probably the rest have basically had their data erased from the internet's address book. When you enter one of those URLs into your browser, it should be able to communicate with Facebook and ask it where it needs to go – but the technology that does so has been removed.

It's like showing up at the Facebook office for a meeting only to discover that the receptionist isn't there. You (or your computer) are simply trapped at your desk since you (or it) do not know the number of the office door you are attempting to enter. (Or anything along those lines.)

It's unclear why this occurred. Because Facebook is so large that it maintains its own DNS – unlike smaller firms – only someone at Facebook would have the authority to shut it down.

10 October 2021