Facebook Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==== October 4, 2021, global service outage ==== {{Main|2021 Facebook outage}} [[File:Facebook-outage-traffic-dropoff_(cropped).png|thumb|500x500px|Traffic volume for Facebook services on October 4, 2021, with a drop during the global outage.]] On October 4, 2021, Facebook had its worst outage since 2008. The outage was global in scope, and took down all Facebook properties, including [[Instagram]] and WhatsApp, from approximately 15:39 UTC to 22:05 UTC, and affected roughly three billion users.<ref>{{cite web|last=Subin|first=Samantha|date=October 4, 2021|title=Facebook is suffering its worst outage since 2008|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/04/facebook-instagram-and-whatsapp-are-down.html|access-date=October 4, 2021|website=[[CNBC]]|archive-date=October 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004212815/https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/04/facebook-instagram-and-whatsapp-are-down.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=October 4, 2021|title=Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram suffer worldwide outage|work=[[Associated Press|AP News]]|url=https://apnews.com/article/facebook-whatsapp-instagram-outage-8b9d3862ed957029e545182a595fdce1|access-date=October 4, 2021|archive-date=October 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008174023/https://apnews.com/article/facebook-whatsapp-instagram-outage-8b9d3862ed957029e545182a595fdce1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Patnaik |first1=Subrat |last2=Mathews |first2=Eva |title=Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp hit by global outage |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/facebook-outages-idUSKBN2GU1TV |access-date=October 4, 2021 |work=[[Reuters]] |date=October 4, 2021 |archive-date=October 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004171434/https://apnews.com/article/facebook-whatsapp-instagram-outage-8b9d3862ed957029e545182a595fdce1 |url-status=live }}</ref> Security experts identified the problem as a [[Border gateway protocol|BGP]] withdrawal of all of the [[Internet Protocol|IP]] routes to their [[Domain Name System|Domain Name (DNS) servers]] which were all self-hosted at the time.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Duffy|first1=Clare|last2=Lyngaas|first2=Sean|date=October 4, 2021|title=Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp go down|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/04/tech/facebook-instagram-whatsapp-outage/index.html|access-date=October 4, 2021|website=[[CNN Business]]|archive-date=October 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004170507/https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/04/tech/facebook-instagram-whatsapp-outage/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Lawler-2021" /> The outage also affected all internal communications systems used by Facebook employees, which disrupted restoration efforts.<ref name="Lawler-2021">{{cite web|last=Lawler|first=Richard|date=October 4, 2021|title=Facebook is down, along with Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Oculus VR|url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/4/22708989/instagram-facebook-outage-messenger-whatsapp-error|access-date=October 4, 2021|website=[[The Verge]]|archive-date=October 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004163422/https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/4/22708989/instagram-facebook-outage-messenger-whatsapp-error|url-status=live}}</ref> The outage cut off Facebook's internal communications, preventing employees from sending or receiving external emails, accessing the corporate directory, and authenticating to some [[Google Docs]] and [[Zoom (software)|Zoom]] services.<ref name="verge">{{cite web |date=October 4, 2021 |title=Locked out and totally down: Facebook is scrambling to fix massive outage |url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/4/22709575/facebook-outage-instagram-whatsapp |access-date=October 4, 2021 |work=The Verge}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lawler |first=Richard |date=October 4, 2021 |title=Facebook is down, along with Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Oculus VR |url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/4/22708989/instagram-facebook-outage-messenger-whatsapp-error |access-date=October 4, 2021 |website=[[The Verge]]}}</ref> The outage had a major impact on people in the [[developing world]], who depend on Facebook's "[[Internet.org|Free Basics]]" program, affecting communication, business and humanitarian work.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schapiro |first1=Avi Asher |last2=Teixeira |first2=Fabio |date=October 5, 2021 |title=Small businesses to aid: How Facebook outage upended lives |work=[[Thomson Reuters]] |url=https://news.trust.org/item/20211005204816-qzjft/ |access-date=October 6, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Carpenter |first=Scott |date=October 4, 2021 |title=Zuckerberg Loses $6 Billion in Hours as Facebook Plunges |language=en |work=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-04/zuckerberg-loses-7-billion-in-hours-as-facebook-plunges |access-date=October 5, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 5, 2021 |title=Facebook Outage Causes Share Drop, Zuckerberg Loses US$5.9B Net Worth β October 5, 2021 |url=https://dailynewsbrief.com/2021/10/05/facebook-outage-causes-share-drop-zuckerberg-loses-us5-9b-net-worth/ |access-date=October 5, 2021 |website=Daily News Brief |language=en-US}}</ref> Facebook's chief technology officer, [[Mike Schroepfer]], wrote an apology after the downtime had extended to several hours,<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 4, 2021 |title=UPDATE: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Back Online After Hours-Long Global Outage β CBS San Francisco |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/facebook-instagram-whatsapp-online-global-outage/ |access-date=December 5, 2023 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 4, 2021 |title=Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Back Online |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/facebook-instagram-whatsapp-suffering-outages-/6256754.html |access-date=December 5, 2023 |website=Voice of America |language=en}}</ref> saying, "Teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible."<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 5, 2021 |title=Facebook begins recovery after major outage took apps offline |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/10/05/business/tech/facebook-apps-outage/ |access-date=December 5, 2023 |website=The Japan Times |language=en}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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