The outage for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp services began around 1200 noon EST (1600 GMT). At about 0545 pm EST, some Facebook users began to partially restore the service. WhatsApp is still having connectivity issues, at least with some users.
The outage was the second blow to Facebook in two days after it faced accusations on Sunday that it repeatedly preferred profit over cracking down on hate speech and misinformation. Facebook owns Instagram and WhatsApp.
Shares of Facebook, which has nearly two billion daily active users, opened lower after a report of violations yesterday, and fell further to fall 5.3 percent in Monday afternoon trading, heading for its worst daily performance in nearly a year amid a broader sell-off in technology shares today. Monday.
Unable to access Facebook because users were not directed to the correct place by the domain name system.
The relevant settings are controlled by Facebook itself, which indicates that the problem is internal.
Security experts said the malfunction could be the result of an internal error, although sabotage by an insider would theoretically be possible.
The domain name system is what allows e-addresses to direct users to the sites they wish to access. A similar outage at cloud computing company Akamai Technologies led to the closure of several sites last July.
External penetration is seen as less likely.
Security experts said a major denial-of-service attack would require either coordination between powerful criminal groups or highly innovative technology to take down one of the world’s most famous sites..
Facebook acknowledged that users were having trouble accessing its apps, but did not provide any details about the nature of the problem or the number of people affected by the outage..
A Facebook employee previously told Reuters that all internal tools are down. People tracking it said Facebook’s response has become more difficult because employees have lost access to some of their own tools.
Several employees said they were not informed of what went wrong.
Facebook, the world’s second largest digital advertising platform, loses about $545,000 in ad revenue in the United States every hour of outage, according to estimates by ad measurement firm Standard Media Index..
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