3.5 Billion Users and Businesses Affected by Service Outage
Zuckerberg Issues Direct Apology
Unprecedented Incident in Internet Company Service Disruptions
Biggest Crisis Since Founding Amid Whistleblowing Scandal
[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Baek Jong-min] An unprecedented incident occurred where Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, the world’s leading social networking services (SNS) with about 3.5 billion users, were down for six hours. Facebook is facing its greatest crisis since its founding amid internal whistleblowing and external pressures.
According to The New York Times (NYT), around 11:40 a.m. local time on the 4th, access to Facebook and affiliated company websites and apps was partially interrupted. The situation worsened, spreading to a global outage where users worldwide could not use Facebook.
Immediately after the outage, Facebook acknowledged "some users are experiencing difficulties accessing the service." As the outage continued into its fourth hour, Mark Schroepfer, Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), personally apologized, stating, "We sincerely apologize for the service disruption. We are doing everything possible to restore it as quickly as possible."
The outage lasted for over six hours. Experts explained that the cause of this incident appears to be an internal server issue rather than hacking.
CNBC reported on the blackout, calling it "the worst since 2008, with 80 million users unable to access the service for a day," highlighting the severity of the situation. Facebook also experienced significant internal chaos, with its internal systems coming to a halt.
As the outage prolonged, concerns arose that this incident is catastrophic not only for internet companies but also for users. Doug Madory, director at network monitoring firm Kentik, commented, "I don’t think I’ve ever seen an outage of this scale at a major internet company."
Because Facebook ID login was unavailable, online shopping malls could not be accessed. Smart TVs and home thermostats were also unusable. Many businesses and self-employed individuals suffered revenue losses.
Recognizing the situation, Facebook apologized to "users and businesses worldwide who depend on us." CEO Mark Zuckerberg also apologized for the outage, stating, "We know how much you rely on our services to connect with the people you care about."
Coinciding with the system failure, an internal whistleblower publicly surfaced the day before, launching an open attack and pushing Facebook into a corner.
Frances Haugen, a former product manager at Facebook, appeared on CBS’s news program ‘60 Minutes’ the previous day, claiming, "There has been a continuous conflict of interest between the public good and private profit at Facebook," and "The company chose to prioritize generating more revenue."
With these adverse events piling up, Facebook’s stock price plunged 4.98% by the close of trading that day. Zuckerberg’s personal net worth also evaporated by $7 billion (approximately 8.3 trillion KRW).
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