- Jane Wakefield
- BBC Technology Correspondent
On Monday, Facebook’s global users were unable to use the social platform for several hours. The company’s WhatsApp and Instagram are also malfunctioning. Facebook apologized for this.
This has also raised public doubts about the centralization of a large number of technical operations on Facebook in recent years. The impact of this technical failure on Facebook’s reputation occurred during its difficult period, making the situation worse.
where is the problem?
In short, Facebook’s system stopped talking to the wider Internet.
Network infrastructure company Cloudflare explained that this is like “someone suddenly unplugs the cable in their data center and disconnects it from the Internet.”
The Facebook explanation is more technical. It said: “The configuration changes of the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers cause problems and interrupt communications.” This has had a “cascading effect…putting our service to a standstill”.
What is the impact of this failure?
The failure of these Internet giants has a knock-on effect on individuals and businesses around the world.
Downdetector, which tracks faults, said that about 10.6 million problems have been reported around the world, the most in history.
This also exposes people’s reliance on social media tools in their daily lives, especially the problem of Facebook’s dominance.
For many people, not being able to access Facebook is just an inconvenience. But for some small businesses in developing countries that don’t have other reliable ways to communicate with customers, this may be a serious problem.
India has the most Facebook users in the world: this number exceeds 340 million. WhatsApp is also an important tool for personal and corporate communication in India.
These platforms were used to advertise and sell products directly to customers. Thousands of Indian companies lost sales on Monday because users were unable to order groceries and other necessities.
According to research firm eMarketer, there are nearly 490 million active WhatsApp users in India.
In Brazil, government officials and even the education system are using WhatsApp. For example, students can receive test results via WhatsApp. The health sector also relies heavily on WhatsApp for doctor appointments and remote consultations with medical professionals.
Similarly, some corporate employees are still working remotely after the COVID-19 pandemic, and now rely on WhatsApp to keep in touch with colleagues.
How does this happen?
At around 16:45 pm on Monday in British Summer Time (BST), a large number of reports saying that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were not working began to appear.
At first, people were accustomed to making jokes about how to respond (short-term downtime), as well as ridicule from competitor Twitter.
But soon the public discovered that this problem was serious. There are reports of chaos in Facebook’s California headquarters.
Sheera Frenkel, a technology reporter for the New York Times, told the BBC that part of the reason it took so long to resolve was that “people trying to find the root cause of the problem could not even enter the building”.
It is currently unknown whether this problem is caused by a software error or a simple human error. However, conspiracy theories are already circulating. For example, deliberate fouls by Facebook insiders are just one of the arguments.
How does Facebook respond?
What’s more embarrassing is that Facebook’s apology was issued on competitor Twitter.
Mike Proulx, an analyst at the research firm Forrester, said the incident has raised questions about Facebook’s centralization of a large number of technical operations in recent years.
He said that such an operation improves efficiency, but it also means that if there is a problem with one ring, it may have a “cascading effect, just like the old-fashioned Christmas lights. If one is broken, everything will be broken.”
Facebook has experienced user downtime before, but it can be fixed in about an hour.
Longer and more destructive downtimes like this time highlight the problem of so much communication around the world being concentrated in Silicon Valley. This in turn raises the question of whether the Internet should only be in the hands of a few large companies.
How much did Facebook lose?
Perhaps the biggest problem for Facebook itself is the impact on its advertising revenue and stock prices. The downtime meant that there were no ads on its platform for more than six hours.
According to analysts, the downtime may cost Zuckerberg up to US$6 billion (£4.4 billion) in personal wealth, and Facebook’s stock fell by nearly 5%.
Others estimate that the company’s loss of revenue may exceed $60 million.
The impact of the malfunction on Facebook’s reputation occurred during a difficult period for Facebook, and its influence and impact on society are facing increasing pressure.
Former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen reported on Facebook insider, saying that Facebook puts business growth ahead of public safety. He also testified in court hearings in the U.S. Senate.
Facebook is also under scrutiny by regulators around the world, who question whether Facebook responds appropriately to issues such as misinformation, hate speech, and handling of user data, or whether, as the whistleblower put it, it puts “performance growth on the safe side” superior”.
Now the technical capabilities of Facebook are also being questioned.