Sure, it sucks that we can’t spend the day doom-scrolling on social media as we’ve become accustomed, but ya know who’s having an even suckier day? Old mate Mark Zuckerberg, who personally lost approximately USD$5.9 billion (AUD$8 billion) as his brain children Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp suffered global outages.
The social media giant’s stock plummeted 4.9%, adding to a drop of about 15% since mid-September, according to Forbes.
The worldwide outage is to blame for the stock plummet latest, which is said to have cost the company millions of dollars in revenue, but it’s not the only reason. There’s also the Congressional hearing, where a former product manager turned whistleblower, Frances Haugen, is set to testify about her decision to leak internal data to the Wall Street Journal.
Haugen appeared on the U.S. 60 Minutes last night, where she blasted her former employer for for putting “profits over people.”
The folks behind FB (which also own Insta and WhatApp) made a statement on Twitter, a.k.a. one of the only social media apps that managed to survive the tech shitstorm.
“We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products,” Facebook said on Twitter.
“We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologise for any inconvenience.”
On Twitter, Facebook policy communications director Andy Stone said the company was aware of the reported problems and “working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible”.
We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) October 4, 2021
As for Instagram, their official comms Twitter wrote: “Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we’re on it! #instagramdown.”
Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we’re on it! #instagramdown
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) October 4, 2021
The official WhatsApp Twitter also made a statement, writing: “We’re aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We’re working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!”
We’re aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We’re working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible.
Thanks for your patience!
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) October 4, 2021
All three apps appear to be coming back to life, slowly but surely. At the time of reporting, we were able to share an update to Facebook, but not to Instagram. Hopefully they sort their shit out on the ASAP.
