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Why Was Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Whatsapp Down?
Facebook is in the news for a number of reasons, including an outage that affected all its spin-off services. The CEO of Cloudflare, the company that maintains the websites behind the social networks, speculated that it may have been caused by a misconfiguration of routers. Moreover, an article on the social network’s algorithms has sparked alarm about the company’s plans to integrate technology behind its platforms.
Cloudflare’s chief technology officer speculates that a misconfiguration of Facebook’s routers caused the outage
Several experts believe that the Facebook outage was caused by a misconfiguration of the company’s routers. BGP is a protocol used to connect Internet providers. Because of a misconfiguration, a BGP route can fail, and if the DNS server is down, a website won’t be able to access its content. As a result, many users have been unable to access Facebook’s website for more than six hours. The outage affected Facebook’s website, Messenger, Instagram and Oculus VR, among other applications. Cloudflare’s chief technology officer speculated that the misconfiguration in Facebook’s routers was the cause of the outage.
However, there is a possibility that the outage could have been prevented if Facebook had been more proactive. In addition to being prone to human error, Facebook’s core internet protocols were developed in the 70s and 80s, and were not designed for today’s massive Internet. Read also : How to Change Password on Facebook. While Facebook subsequently apologized to its users, the outage lasted longer than expected. The outage also came a day after Facebook was featured on a “60 Minutes” segment about internal research on data breaches.
According to the SANS Institute, “It’s very possible that the outage was caused by a misconfiguration of Facebook’s network’s routers,” said John Graham-Cunningham, the chief technology officer of Cloudflare. “A misconfiguration of Facebook’s routers could be the culprit, and this would make the outage much worse.”
Facebook’s algorithms enabled the spread of misinformation
The spread of misinformation and violent extremism has been facilitated through the use of social media, including Facebook. The company has been accused of sowing distrust in democratic institutions and facilitating real-world violence and genocide. Read also : Is Facebook Pixel Going Away?. Regulating micro-targeting algorithms would be an important first step toward ending this problem. While journalists, governments, and even some political parties have been accused of enabling the spread of fake news, the true adversary is the algorithms used by Facebook.
Recent data has shown that Facebook’s algorithms have allowed the spread of misinformation. Researchers from the Knight Foundation have studied the role of Facebook in the spread of misinformation and have found that 75% of Americans believe that they were exposed to misinformation regarding the 2020 presidential election through the social media platform. Furthermore, more than half (55%) of respondents agreed that Facebook was the primary source of this misinformation. The problem is that Facebook’s algorithms have made it easier for far-right groups to gain a high volume of followers and users.
The problem lies in the fact that Facebook’s algorithms failed to regulate the spread of dangerous COVID-19 and anti-vaccine content. While these stories caused considerable harm to Facebook users, some platforms have profited from them, while others prioritized positive news coverage and avoid taking responsibility for the spread of misinformation. This is the worst possible situation, and Facebook must take action. So what should it do?
Facebook’s plans to integrate technology behind its platforms raise concerns
The privacy of user data has long been a concern, and the new plans to integrate technology behind Facebook’s platforms are a cause for concern. Facebook’s integration of WhatsApp and Instagram could allow companies to collect user information in ways that are not permitted by law. On the same subject : How Do I Get My Facebook Recovery Code?. The company has previously failed to maintain the privacy of users’ data, and the scandals surrounding Cambridge Analytica and the 2016 presidential campaign prove that it is not alone in collecting information.
A privacy activist recently wrote an op-ed calling for lawmakers to break up Facebook. The move comes after reports surfaced that the Justice Department and FBI were investigating Cambridge Analytica for alleged financial crimes. The company is now offering its own designs of new technology for free. Its goal is to bring the internet to more people and ensure that more people have access to it. But it is also possible that the companies are aiming for a different outcome altogether – they are trying to bolster their platform’s privacy features.
Some critics fear that Facebook will use the metaverse to trap users in endless scrolling content. This new technology could also track people’s facial movements or read their minds. In addition, Facebook has already shut down its facial recognition technology on its main platform, but now says that it will use it on its metaverse. However, critics are worried that Zuckerberg is using it to distract the public from the problems he is facing.
