Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram suffer worldwide outage

Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms were down across wide swathes of the world Monday. Facebook’s internal systems used by employees also went down.

The company said it was aware that “some people are having trouble accessing (the) Facebook app” and it was working on restoring access. Regarding the internal failures, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, tweeted that it feels like a “snow day.”

The company did not say what might be causing the outage, which began around 11:45 ET. It is normal for websites and apps to suffer outages, though one on a global scale is rare. Users reported being unable to access Facebook in California, New York and Europe.

Doug Madory, director of internet analysis for Kentik Inc., said it appears that the routes Facebook advertises online that tell the entire internet how to reach its properties are not available.

Madory said it looks like the DNS routes that Facebook makes available to the networking world have been withdrawn. The Domain Name System is an integral element of how traffic on the internet is routed. DNS translates an address like “facebook.com” to an IP address like 123.45.67.890. If Facebook’s DNS records have disappeared, no one could find it.

Facebook is going through a separate major crisis after whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, provided The Wall Street Journal with internal documents that exposed the company’s awareness of harms caused by of its products and decisions. Haugen went public on “60 Minutes” on Sunday.

Haugen also anonymously filed complaints with federal law enforcement alleging that Facebook’s own research shows how it magnifies hate and misinformation, leads to increased polarization and that Instagram, specifically, can harm teenage girls’ mental health.

The Journal’s stories, called “The Facebook Files,” painted a picture of a company focused on growth and its own interests over the public good. Facebook has tried to play down the research. Nick Clegg, the company’s vice president of policy and public affairs, wrote to Facebook employees in a memo Friday that “social media has had a big impact on society in recent years, and Facebook is often a place where much of this debate plays out.”

Twitter, meanwhile, chimed in from the company’s main Twitter account, posting “hello literally everyone” as jokes and memes about the Facebook outage flooded the platform.

-Associated Press

WhatsApp tests breaking free from smartphones

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp has announced the launch of a trial aimed at freeing its users from smartphones.

In a blog post on, Facebook engineers said the new feature would allow for the hugely popular service be used on multiple "non-phone" devices without needing to connect to the smartphone app. 

"With this new capability, you can now use WhatsApp on your phone and up to four other non-phone devices simultaneously - even if your phone battery is dead," the blog post said.

Since its launch in 2009 as a smartphone messaging app, WhatsApp has amassed more than two billion users around the world and been acquired by Facebook.

WhatsApp can already be used on "companion devices," such as computers, but exchanges are routed in such a way that if a person's smartphone is offline or has zero battery, it won't work.

Other issues can arise as well, such as frequent disconnection. 

"The new WhatsApp multi-device architecture removes these hurdles" by no longer requiring a smartphone to perform every operation, the company said. 

The new capability will be expanded more broadly as it is refined, Facebook added.

It also made assurances that WhatsApp's security measures will still work under the new system. 

"Each companion device will connect to your WhatsApp independently while maintaining the same level of privacy and security through end-to-end encryption that people who use WhatsApp have come to expect."

Agence France-Presse

Facebook services back online after worldwide outage

SAN FRANCISCO, United States — Facebook said it was "back at 100 percent" Wednesday evening after an outage on all of its services affected users in various parts of the world.

Online monitoring service DownDetector reported earlier the outage began around 1200 GMT and affected Facebook as well as its Instagram and WhatsApp services.

"The issue has since been resolved and we should be back at 100% for everyone," the company tweeted at 0006 GMT Thursday, adding they were sorry for "any inconvenience."


A Facebook spokesperson, also speaking on behalf of Instagram and WhatsApp, explained that a "routine maintenance operation" accidentally triggered a bug that made it difficult for users to upload or send photos and videos, US media reported.

#Facebookdown and #instagramdown were trending on Twitter as users around the world reported these apps were not functioning.

According to DownDetector, thousands of users around the world were reporting outages, with Europe and North America most impacted. Both individual users as well as businesses and organizations were affected.

"Yes, we are affected by #instagramdown, too," the CIA tweeted during the outage.

"No, we didn't cause it. No, we can't fix yours. Did you try turning it off and back on again?"

Earlier this year, an outage lasting as long as 24 hours that hit Facebook services was blamed on a "server configuration change."

The March 13 outage was believed to be the worst ever for the internet giant, which reaches an estimated 2.7 billion people with its core social network, Instagram and messaging applications.

The company did not immediately respond to an AFP query on Wednesday's outage.

source: philstar.com

EU regulators to decide on Facebook, WhatsApp deal by Oct. 3

BRUSSELS — European Union antitrust regulators will decide by Oct. 3 whether to clear world No. 1 online social network Facebook’s $19 billion offer for mobile messaging startup WhatsApp, the European Commission said on Monday.

Facebook requested EU approval last week, the Commission’s website showed. The EU competition watchdog can either clear the deal unconditionally, demand concessions or extend the preliminary review into a wider probe.

Facebook expects to close the deal, its largest in its 10-year history, this year. U.S. regulators cleared the takeover in April, telling WhatsApp to stick to its current privacy practices after the merger, including not to use users’ personal data for targeted ads.

source: interaksyon.com