- Meta blames “technical issues”
- Outage affects millions globally
- Cause remains undisclosed
Meta disclosed that “technical issues” were to blame for the widespread disruption affecting Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, but declined to provide further information regarding the nature of those “issues.”
On Tuesday night, the platforms owned by Mark Zuckerberg were unavailable for at least two and a half hours, leaving hundreds of thousands of users unable to access their accounts.
Meta’s service dashboard indicated “Major disruptions” for several of its services when the company’s internal systems became inoperable.
An internal issue, similar to the seven-hour outage all of Meta’s platforms experienced in 2021, would sever connections.
Andy Stone, Meta’s director of communication, posted on X about one and a half hours after users reported problems: “Some of our services were inaccessible to some users earlier today due to a technical issue.” We swiftly resolved the issue for all those affected and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.
However, numerous users replied to the post, requesting an explanation of the causes of the problems.
Stone has yet to respond to any comments.
While the precise internal tools that may have triggered the disruption remain undisclosed, such technologies form the fundamental infrastructure of companies.
These software applications, designed solely for internal use, aim to streamline operations, automate repetitive tasks, and provide employees with the data necessary for informed decision-making.
A minor error, such as inputting the incorrect command or code, could have rendered Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger non-operational.
This was the cause of the seven-hour disruption in 2021, which resulted in approximately $7 billion in losses for Zuckerberg amidst the chaos.
Regarding the 2021 issues, Facebook stated, “Our engineering teams have found that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centres caused this communication disruption.”
“This network traffic disruption triggered a cascade effect in our data centres, leading to the cessation of all services.”
However, Meta has yet to reveal the cause of today’s disruption.
The issues began around 10:20 a.m. ET (3:20 p.m. GMT) and affected websites and applications, except for Meta’s WhatsApp.
Users, taken aback, were abruptly logged out of their accounts, fearing their confidential information had been compromised.
Meanwhile, Instagram’s News Feed started showing an error message.
The majority of issue reports involved applications: 72% for Facebook, 64% for Instagram, and 50% for Messenger.
According to DownDetector, an organisation that monitors online disruptions, hundreds of thousands of Americans reported problems with Facebook, tens of thousands with Instagram, and Messenger received only a few thousand issue reports.
The disruption also affected parts of Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Mexico, in addition to the United States, causing a decline in Meta’s stock price.
X (Twitter) was flooded with user complaints and meme sharing about the outage, delighting its owner, Elon Musk.
Some individuals experienced difficulties. Initially, it was thought their accounts had been compromised, but X now contains over 80,000 posts about the unavailability of Facebook and Instagram.
Musk commented on Meta’s disruption on X: “The reason you can read this message is that our servers are operational.”
Two-factor authentication (2FA), which verifies login by sending a code-containing SMS to a user’s phone, was not functioning.
While a Facebook insider suggested the issue stemmed from internal tools, X has been rife with public speculation.
Some have speculated that the current power disruption, occurring on Super Tuesday, the day several states hold their presidential primaries, represents a “cyberattack.”
Jake Moore, a cybersecurity advisor at ESET and technology expert, stated that a cyberattack is unlikely but not impossible.
He explained, “Facebook has a history of downtime, but this could be due to a long list of reasons.”
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“Although it is extremely unlikely this is a cyber attack, the possibility cannot be entirely dismissed; instead, it is a typical internal network issue.”
TheRevOpsTeam editor, Kerri Lisenbigler, described the outage as an “annoyance” but “likely nothing too serious.”
She said, “This is not the first time this has happened, and it will not be the last.”
Massive platforms like Facebook, Instagram (and now Threads) handle an enormous volume of traffic and data every hour of the day.
This means that a minor error or human mistake in the server room can quickly escalate into a widespread disruption affecting millions of users.
“These issues only become a concern if the Meta teams can’t get the services back online within a few hours; at that point, people will start to speculate about the possibility of a cyberattack.”
