What Happened to Facebook, Instagram, & WhatsApp?:
Facebook and its sister properties Instagram and WhatsApp are suffering from ongoing, global outages. We don't yet know why this happened, but the how is clear: Earlier this morning, something inside Facebook caused the company to revoke key digital records that tell computers and other Internet-enabled devices how to find these destinations online.
Doug Madory is director of internet analysis at Kentik, a San Francisco-based network monitoring company. Madory said at approximately 11:39 a.m. ET today (15:39 UTC), someone at Facebook caused an update to be made to the company's Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) records. BGP is a mechanism by which Internet service providers of the world share information about which providers are responsible for routing Internet traffic to which specific groups of Internet addresses.
In simpler terms, sometime this morning Facebook took away the map telling the world's computers how to find its various online properties. As a result, when one types Facebook.com into a web browser, the browser has no idea where to find Facebook.com, and so returns an error page.
In addition to stranding billions of users, the Facebook outage also has stranded its employees from communicating with one another using their internal Facebook tools. That's because Facebook's email and tools are all managed in house and via the same domains that are now stranded.
[...] This is a developing story and will likely be updated throughout the day.
Also at: C|Net and Ars Technica.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @07:51PM (12 children)
Just imagine all the work that got done today when workers couldn't waste time on Facebook and its partner "time-wasters"..
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday October 04 2021, @08:14PM (3 children)
Even their IP address wouldn't get you to the site, I tried it this afternoon. Saw it this morning on The Verge, it was the top item on Google News.
We are all S/Ners here
(Score: 2) by Revek on Monday October 04 2021, @08:39PM (2 children)
You would think they would have backups of their BGP tables but hey I'm sure no one there is solely responsible for doing that ;)
This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday October 04 2021, @10:40PM (1 child)
whatever it was, FB was back up at 9am in Sydney - even made the paper..
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/facebook-whatsapp-instagram-suffer-worldwide-outage-20211005-p58x7g.html [smh.com.au]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @11:21PM
https://blog.cloudflare.com/october-2021-facebook-outage/ [cloudflare.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by iWantToKeepAnon on Monday October 04 2021, @08:17PM (7 children)
Imagine there's no SOCIAL-MEDIA
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no TWITTER, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace... You...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 2, Troll) by Gaaark on Monday October 04 2021, @10:29PM (1 child)
Imagine there's no Yoko Ono
It isn't hard to do
No lousy screeching
And no pretentious 'artistic' asshole non-sensery
Oh f*ck it, just enjoy!
https://youtu.be/03K4J_nstcI [youtu.be]
https://youtu.be/76LjyxX-GHI [youtu.be]
http://blog.livedoor.jp/beatlesjapan-blog/archives/83211354.html [livedoor.jp]
Mark David Chapman took out the wrong person.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @10:46PM
Imagine there's no Gaaark
It's easy if you try
Plenty of dark matter
But no autistic cries
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @03:17AM (1 child)
Well, I'm still posting to Usenet...
(Score: 2) by ewk on Tuesday October 05 2021, @12:57PM
"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!"
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 5, Funny) by driverless on Tuesday October 05 2021, @06:37AM (2 children)
First they came for the neo-nazis, but I didn't say anything because I wasn't a neo-nazi.
Then they came for the white supremacists, but I didn't say anything because I wasn't a white supremacist.
Then they came for the antivaxxers, but I didn't say anything because I wasn't an antivaxxer.
Then they came for the homophobes and Islamophobes and ..., but I didn't say anything because I wasn't a homophobe or Islamophobe or ....
Then they came for the Russian trolls, but I didn't say anything because I wasn't a Russian troll.
Then they came for the conspiracy theorists, but I didn't say anything because I wasn't a conspiracy theorist.
Then I looked around Facebook, and there was no-one left.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @07:28AM
To be modded up, as Funny, or Interesting, or Touche, by those who have not yet been banned from moderation for being opposed to one of the named parties. I would say, "See you on Facebook!", but, you know, not. Throw a coin to the Witcher.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday October 05 2021, @11:10AM
But, well, you hadn't been saying anything all along, so no skin off your teeth, right?
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @07:52PM (9 children)
Oh GAWWD!!! Without Facebook, where am I gonna find authoritative information about Ivermectin, Hydroxycholoquine, Vitamin D, and other ways to cure COVID-19???
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 04 2021, @07:59PM (1 child)
Twitter still seems to be up and providing novel information on Ivermectin, Hydroxycholoquine, Vitamin D, and other ways to cure COVID-19 and other important subjects. Magnetic bracelets and 5G and other important topics.
Just don't drink any of the vaccine! It has microchips in it! It will rewrite your DNA!
Police can legally stop you for having too much tent on your window.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @11:12PM
Just let the evolutionary process run its course. No point in fighting species cleansing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @08:32PM
On every other site fakebook fools just started using instead.
(Score: 5, Funny) by mcgrew on Monday October 04 2021, @08:46PM (1 child)
The jj-joneses... man, I look everywhere. “Ya got any Facebook, man?”
“Na, it's DRY as a bone. There ain't any Facebook ANYWHERE, man. I was hoping you knew where I could get some.”
“No, you want to ride along?"
...“Ya got any Facebook, man?”
“Sorry, dude, there was a big bust up in Canada, nobody's got any. You don't look too good, slick. Want some Parler?”
“I dunno, man, I heard that stuff causes brain damage. How about some slashdot? Ya got any of that?”
“Yeah, but it's been cut, it's kind of weak. Here, have a hit.”
We are all S/Ners here
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @10:24PM
See: Write a Novel: A free online course [typepad.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @09:36PM (1 child)
The difference between you and I is such. If you will be wrong, you will become indignant. If I am will become wrong I will be relieved. I hope to be wrong.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @10:25PM
If you are am will to learn English before posting your paid troll posts, Ivan, you will sound more convincing.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @10:04PM
Try here:
https://www.educationviews.org/india-state-of-241-million-people-declared-covid-free-after-government-promotes-ivermectin/ [educationviews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @11:48PM
CDC?
(Score: 5, Funny) by martyb on Monday October 04 2021, @07:53PM (1 child)
That's a change!
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are down... and SoylentNews.org [soylentnews.org] is up!
=)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday October 04 2021, @08:01PM
Maybe FB didn't reach its funding target this year.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @07:56PM (3 children)
that this is permanent
(Score: 5, Insightful) by looorg on Monday October 04 2021, @08:00PM (2 children)
... and nothing of actual value was lost.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @11:11PM (1 child)
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @01:33AM
They don't say whether that was a positive or negative impact. I'm guessing positive.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 04 2021, @07:56PM (15 children)
The loss of access to facebook represents an incalculable loss to the entire planet.
How can humans survive without Facebook being online? There seems to be no possible way. This could be what brings an end to the human race.
Police can legally stop you for having too much tent on your window.
(Score: 5, Touché) by edIII on Monday October 04 2021, @08:01PM (2 children)
Pornhub is still online so there is still hope
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Gaaark on Monday October 04 2021, @10:32PM (1 child)
Your grandmother just celebrated her 100th birthday and got naked and hog-tied... celebrate with her!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @03:53AM
So you already knew Pornhub was still on-line.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday October 04 2021, @08:11PM
And this is bad how?
Remember: it's the same human race that invented, then couldn't get enough of Facebook. One wonders if it's worth saving.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Rich on Monday October 04 2021, @08:16PM (3 children)
That's half funny, half serious. Among the huge number of users will be a good amount of businesses. That sort which isn't able or willing to set up a full web site, or even too lazy to maintain working e-mail, and bonus points if they substituted mail with WhatsApp. Local building companies, facility services, that stuff. Who rely on FB for order lists.
We've seen (from semiconductors to truck drivers) that the entire industrial sector is so just-in-time that a little bump can cause a massive ripple. Any guess what hit the worldwide supply chains would take if FB/WA go dark for a week?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday October 05 2021, @12:10AM (2 children)
Most restaurants don't feel the need to have ephemeral content on their own webpages, so alas that means we're all a slave to Facebook.
So failures like this can be a bit of a bummer. If I've missed a duck breast and parsnip mash with cherry sauce, I'm gonna be pissed off.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @02:15AM (1 child)
> ... parsnip mash ...
I hate parsnips and ignore FB. For some reason I haven't figured out, parsnips taste, to me, like eating dirt. Yuck! Otherwise, I eat all kinds of things, had a great week in Taiwan where they eat all sorts of stuff that we don't usually see in USA.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 06 2021, @03:38AM
It's because they do taste like dirt. Some people like dirt.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @08:58PM (1 child)
Well what do you know? That Republican cancel culture really did take them down! Quick, head to Parler! (or is it Parlor?)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @09:21PM
Pretty sure it's Parklour, or Parlkour, one of those. They run their own GBP, too, and many of their techies are dylsexic.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday October 04 2021, @11:17PM
I thought Facebook's existence was the beginning of the end to the human race.
Oh, now I see how this works. Facebook is the Titanic of modern anthropology.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @12:19AM (3 children)
I sense a great disturbance in the Face.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday October 05 2021, @04:14AM (2 children)
I sense a great disturbance in the Farce.
FTFY
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @04:07PM (1 child)
You didn't get the whole thing! Here, let me help:
No need to thank me.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday October 05 2021, @09:48PM
No need, but I'll thank you anyway. :)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday October 04 2021, @07:59PM (2 children)
saw themselves as they really are and decided to commit seppuku out of shame?
If only...
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 04 2021, @08:01PM (1 child)
We can only wish.
I'm sure they look in the mirror and see themselves as angels of light. Helping the human race.
Police can legally stop you for having too much tent on your window.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by mcgrew on Monday October 04 2021, @08:18PM
Very unlikely. [cbsnews.com]
We are all S/Ners here
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @08:00PM (2 children)
Make it that what happened is that an asteroid landed on their headquarters killing that asshole and all his minions. Anything less would cause me to question my religion.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Monday October 04 2021, @08:02PM
Too bad that "suborbital" Bozos the clown is not in the same building. A 2 for 1 special.
Police can legally stop you for having too much tent on your window.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday October 04 2021, @08:03PM
What did the poor asteroid ever do to you?
(Score: 4, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday October 04 2021, @08:09PM (3 children)
This one truly is breaking news.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday October 04 2021, @08:11PM (2 children)
The oil spill is now old news. The major story which affects all humanity is that Facebook is Down!
But not only Facebook, other applications that are critical to the survival of the human race such as Instagram and WhatsApp.
Police can legally stop you for having too much tent on your window.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday October 04 2021, @08:18PM (1 child)
With Facebook down, how will people release all that pent up hate and anger? Is somebody making popcorn? Or is that just the sound of heads exploding?
Best hack ever... The story of who took Facebook down will forever be as mysterious as the Kennedy killings
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 04 2021, @08:31PM
It had to be the Deep State. In order to censor conservative messages. And to prevent the next generation of capitol rioters and domestic terrorists from organizing or posting their trophy pictures after they break in.
Police can legally stop you for having too much tent on your window.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @08:22PM (2 children)
Personally I hope they are gone too
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday October 04 2021, @08:27PM
One of my clients insists on having FB pixels about, and those did in fact cause problems for his pages when they couldn't load. Apparently, FB's pixel code they recommend you paste in to handle them can't consider the possibility that FB is completely non-functional and stalls trying to do the DNS lookup.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @09:30PM
lol, yes please hope they all fail also.
This is a fantastic time to be alive.
World rids itself of largest virus to enslave human kind.
Priceless.
(Score: 1, Touché) by ncc74656 on Monday October 04 2021, @08:27PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @08:55PM
Knowledge knowledge everywhere and not a thought to think.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @09:26PM
7 Billion in Net worth evaporates.
Poor guy.
And what will all the users who use Facepuke to login to other services do?
Oh so sad.
Let's start a #savemark tag, selling NFTs of the first report of the blackout to raise funds for poor Mark.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Tork on Monday October 04 2021, @09:29PM (2 children)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @11:00PM (1 child)
It says their BGP records are trashed. Depending on their network topology and how badly they trashed it, this could very well be something that needs to be fixed in person one subnet at a time and then a bit of time has to pass before the other peers will pick you up again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @07:51AM
Given how long this took, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have to do exactly that and may have even had to put people on chartered planes to get to some of their network.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bradley13 on Monday October 04 2021, @09:34PM
Since the domain is unreachable, apparently some number of registrars are claiming to offer it for sale. Heck, maybe it is - that would just be the cherry on top of this adventure.
What do you suppose would happen to someone who managed to buy it? I'm not thinking riches; more along the lines of kneecaps...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by inertnet on Monday October 04 2021, @09:36PM (4 children)
My first thought, could it be a ransomware attack? Second thought, would anyone even dare?
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Monday October 04 2021, @09:59PM (1 child)
A few days ago some other site talking about a major root certificate that was to expire on the first of the month. Mainly an issue for older browsers and IoT shit. My older browser complained about that on soylentnews and a couple of other sites, but since it is not dick-headed, I just clicked permanently accept, and all is fine. Still, I wonder if it could be related, perhaps some old infrastructure device craping itself.
Oh, and HA HA! HA HA AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAAHA AAAAAHHAAHA AHAH AHAH. (Falls over laughing at poor shmukerberg).
Losing billions of dollars do to the outage? Remember, that is how much your privacy is worth to them.
Fuck facebook.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @07:49AM
That is not a real solution to the certificate problem. You are better off just adding the new root certificate to your trust store and they will all keep working until 2035. You can get the pem or DER from https://letsencrypt.org/certificates/ [letsencrypt.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @11:17PM (1 child)
https://www.newsweek.com/15-billion-facebook-users-personal-information-posted-sale-after-hack-1635439 [newsweek.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @12:53AM
What's new? Isn't selling everyone's personal information pretty much their business model?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04 2021, @09:46PM
Lighting candles and praying for mankind.
To experience the day the Internet did thrive,
with the World's biggest virus removed from our minds.
(Score: 3, Touché) by SomeGuy on Monday October 04 2021, @10:06PM (1 child)
(posted this last time, but it is still funny)
Huddled in a dark corner, he stared longingly and blankly at his cell phone. His cell phone blankly stared back at him. That is all he could see, an empty screen with nothing but the words "Sorry, something went wrong.".
He began rocking back and forth nervously, the cell phone illuminating his face with its ghostly blueish-white glow.
It had been hours now. He had been unable tell complete strangers about what he had eaten earlier. He could not see whats-her-name's new cat pictures. The endless message feeds were now quiet. Sweat began to drip from his brow. What would he possibly do?
In desperation, he had already tired downloading the "Fix Facebook" software from that helpful looking malware site. But his efforts were fruitless. Nothing worked.
He gripped his cell phone tighter. "Is this... perhaps... the end of the world?" he thought to himself. For a moment, he envisioned himself driving a tank through an abandoned downtown. Out of habit, he reached to his phone to type out that thought for his network of "friends".... but the error message persisted.
What could he possibly do? He wondered again. He glanced around, noting the glowing blue LEDs of his various electronic gadgets. But it all seemed so pointless now.
A cat appeared in the doorway. It glanced at him annoyedly. For a moment he extends his arm to take a picture with his cell phone. But he drops his arm in despair. It won't work. The cat turns and darts away as he begins sobbing loudly.
He gently caresses the screen of his precious phone. The phone hypnotically scrolls to another, mostly empty page. He caresses it again, scrolling back. "It can't be true. This can't be happening.", he sobs to himself, as he continues to scroll the hypnotic screen back and forth... back and forth... back and forth...
Facebook is down.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @12:30AM
There is no joy in Farmville for the Mighty Zuck has struck out,
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @12:50AM (3 children)
See subject: A P K Hosts File Engine 2.0++ 64-bit for Linux/BSD h t t p : / / a p k . i t - m a t e . c o . u k / A P K H o s t s F i l e E n g i n e F o r L i n u x . z i p (remove spaces & download)
Yields more security/speed/reliability/anonymity vs. any 1 solution (99% of threats use hostnames vs. IP address most firewalls use) more efficiently/FASTER + NATIVELY 4 less.
Vs. "Bolt on 'MoAr' illogic-logic" slowing you hosts speed u up 2 ways: Adblocks + Hardcode fav. sites u spend most time @ vs. competition loaded w/ security bugs (DNS/AntiVir) + overheads slowing u (messagepass 'souled-out' to advertisers easily detected & blocked addons + firewall filtering drivers) & their complexity leads to exploitation!
* ONLY 1 of its kind in GUI 4 Linux/BSD!
(Better vs. Windows model in speed/efficiency/merge)
APK
P.S.=> Protects vs. script trackers/ads/DNS request tracking + redirect poisoned or downed DNS/botnets/malware downloads/malcript/email malicious payloads... apk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @01:04AM (1 child)
Hosts files do nothing when the actual IP address is unreachable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @01:30AM
Yes but what if you implement it in Pascal?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @07:14AM
Lawl
(Score: 2) by ledow on Tuesday October 05 2021, @12:31PM (1 child)
I said BGP about 20 minutes after it was happening. I win.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @01:57PM
I never noticed it happening because I never started using Facebook. I think I win ;-).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @03:15PM
-ed
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 06 2021, @03:26PM
So I noticed in the papers, and web-papers, that there have been this little uptick in news about how people "survived" the 7h downtime and how vulnerable they are or felt or how addicted they are to the various platforms or how pervasive they are in society. Psychologists got to write stuff, therapists got to say their piece. Yet I gather that in a few days time people will have forgotten and are back to liking or clicking or whatever they do. All better now, all forgotten.