# Facebook blames “faulty configuration change” for nearly six-hour outage Author: Pal Sinha, Barnali Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali Published: 2021-10-05 Category: BUSINESS Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/business Meta Title: Facebook blames 'faulty configuration change' for six-hour outage Meta Description: Facebook Inc. suffered a nearly six-hour outage due to a 'faulty configuration change', affecting 3.5 billion users on WhatsApp, Instagram, and URL: https://financedigest.com/facebook-blames-faulty-configuration-change-for-nearly-six-hour-outagehtml ![undefined](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/2021-10-05t031931z2lynxmpeh93192rtroptp4facebook-outages-1736837717722-compressed.jpg) By Subrat Patnaik, Eva Mathews and Sheila Dang (Reuters) -Facebook Inc blamed a “faulty configuration change” for a nearly six-hour outage on Monday that prevented the company’s 3.5 billion users from accessing its social media and messaging services such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. The company in a late Monday blog post https://engineering.fb.com/2021/10/04/networking-traffic/outage did not specify who executed the configuration change and whether it was planned. Several Facebook employees who declined to be named had told Reuters earlier that they believed that the outage was caused by an internal mistake in how internet traffic is [routed to its systems](https://www.financedigest.com/a-fast-track-route-to-updating-legacy-system-code.html "A Fast-Track Route to Updating Legacy System Code"). The [failures of internal communication tools and other resources](https://www.financedigest.com/hmrcs-newfound-status-as-preferential-creditor-on-corporate-failures-represents-another-potential-drain-on-the-resources-of-the-ppf.html "HMRC’s newfound status as preferential creditor on corporate failures represents another potential drain on the resources of the PPF") that depend on that same network in order to work compounded the error, the employees said. [Security experts](https://www.financedigest.com/industry-not-ready-for-robot-hack-threat-warns-cyber-security-expert.html "Industry NOT READY for robot hack threat, warns cyber security expert") have said an inadvertent mistake or sabotage by an insider were both plausible. “We want to make clear at this time we believe the root cause of this outage was a faulty configuration change,” Facebook said in the blog. The Facebook outage is the [largest ever tracked](https://www.financedigest.com/russias-largest-lender-sberbank-on-track-to-profitability-says-ceo.html "Russia’s largest lender Sberbank on track to profitability, says CEO") by web monitoring group Downdetector. The outage was the second blow to the [social media giant in as many days after a whistleblower on Sunday https://www.reuters.com/technology/facebook-whistleblower-reveals-identity-ahead-senate-hearing-2021-10-03 accused the company of repeatedly prioritizing profit over clamping down on hate speech and misinformation](https://www.financedigest.com/twitter-social-platforms-could-see-spike-in-election-misinformation.html "Twitter, social platforms could see spike in election misinformation"). As the world flocked to competing apps such as Twitter and TikTok, shares of Facebook fell 4.9%, their biggest daily drop since last November, amid a broader selloff in [technology stocks](https://www.financedigest.com/chatgpt-mania-pumps-up-chinese-ai-technology-stocks.html "ChatGPT mania pumps up Chinese AI technology stocks") on Monday. Shares rose about half a percent in after-hours trade following resumption of service. To every [small and large business](https://www.financedigest.com/10-dirty-tricks-for-small-businesses-to-watch-out-for-when-negotiating.html "10 dirty tricks for Small Businesses to watch out for when negotiating"), family, and individual who depends on us, I’m sorry,” Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer tweeted, adding that it “may take some time to get to 100%. “Facebook basically locked its keys in its car,” tweeted Jonathan Zittrain, director of Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Twitter on Monday reported higher-than-normal usage, which led to some issues in [people accessing posts](https://www.financedigest.com/life-post-brexit-people-must-take-precedent.html "Life post Brexit – people must take precedent") and direct messages. In one of the day’s most popular tweets, video streaming company Netflix shared a meme from its new hit show “Squid Game” captioned “When Instagram & Facebook are down,” that showed a [person labeled “Twitter” holding up a character on the verge of falling labeled “everyone.”](https://www.financedigest.com/to-be-a-young-person-and-own-your-own-home-should-be-a-dream-that-everyone-has-the-right-to-fulfil.html "“To be a young person and own your own home should be a dream that everyone has the right to fulfil.”") Inside a Facebook group for ad buyers, one member wisecracked after service [returned that “lots of people searched](https://www.financedigest.com/andalucian-open-returns-to-costa-del-golf-as-golfers-go-in-search-of-the-perfect-pad-close-to-the-fairway.html "Andalucian Open returns to ‘Costa del Golf’ as golfers go in search of the perfect pad close to the fairway") today ‘how to run google ads for clients.’ Facebook, which is the [world’s largest seller of online](https://www.financedigest.com/jetlearn-the-worlds-first-web-3-0-online-academy-for-k-12-raises-e1-2m-in-seed-round-to-launch-its-platform-in-the-uk.html "JetLearn, the world’s first Web 3.0 online academy for K-12, raises €1.2m in seed round to launch its platform in the UK") ads after Google, was losing about $545,000 in U.S. ad revenue per hour during the outage, [according to estimates](https://www.financedigest.com/global-natural-disaster-losses-reach-45bn-during-1h-2018-insurance-payouts-estimated-at-21bn-according-to-aon-catastrophe-report.html "Global natural disaster losses reach bn during 1H 2018; insurance payouts estimated at bn, according to Aon catastrophe report") from ad measurement firm Standard Media Index. Past downtime at internet [companies has had little long-term affect](https://www.financedigest.com/factbox-companies-potentially-affected-by-italys-election.html "Factbox: Companies potentially affected by Italy’s election") on their revenue growth, however. Facebook’s services, including consumer apps such as Instagram, workplace tools it [sells to businesses](https://www.financedigest.com/reasons-why-you-should-hire-a-business-broker-to-sell-your-business.html "Reasons Why You Should Hire a Business Broker to Sell Your Business") and internal programs, went dark noon Eastern time (1600 GMT). Access started to return around 5:45 pm ET. Soon after the outage started, Facebook acknowledged users were having trouble accessing its [apps](https://www.financedigest.com/yolt-becomes-first-money-app-to-complete-the-integration-of-all-new-users-via-an-open-banking-api.html "Yolt becomes first money app to complete the integration of all new users via an Open Banking API") but did not provide any specifics about the nature of the problem or say how many users were affected. The error message on Facebook’s webpage suggested an error in the Domain Name System (DNS), which [allows web addresses to take users](https://www.financedigest.com/datawallet-partners-with-indorse-and-steemit-allows-users-to-earn-profit-for-sharing-data.html "Datawallet Partners with Indorse and Steemit, Allows Users to Earn Profit for Sharing Data") to their destinations. A similar [outage at cloud](https://www.financedigest.com/3-steps-to-combat-cloud-outages.html "3 Steps to Combat Cloud Outages") company Akamai Technologies Inc took down multiple websites in July. On Sunday, Frances Haugen, who worked as a product manager on the civic misinformation team at Facebook, revealed that she was the whistleblower who provided documents underpinning a recent [Wall Street](https://www.financedigest.com/asian-stocks-edge-up-before-u-s-jobs-data-defying-wall-street-selloff.html "Asian stocks edge up before U.S. jobs data, defying Wall Street selloff") Journal investigation and a U.S. Senate hearing last week on Instagram’s harm to teen girls. Haugen was due to urge the same Senate subcommittee on Tuesday to regulate the company, which she [plans to liken to tobacco companies](https://www.financedigest.com/companies-continue-to-plan-in-times-of-uncertainty.html "Companies Continue To Plan In Times Of Uncertainty") that for decades denied that smoking damaged health, according to prepared testimony seen by Reuters. (Reporting by Eva Mathews and Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Tiyashi Datta, Nivedita Balu, Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru, Joseph Menn and Paresh Dave in [San Francisco](https://www.financedigest.com/paul-jasper-joins-rimon-laws-san-francisco-office-as-partner.html "Paul Jasper joins Rimon Law’s San Francisco Office as Partner") and Sheila Dang in Dallas; Editing by Uttaresh.V, Shailesh Kuber, Anil D’Silva, Sonya Hepinstall and Sriraj Kalluvila) --- This blog is powered by Superblog. Visit https://superblog.ai to know more. ---