Facebook-owned services failing are becoming the norm

The start of this week was marked by a massive disruption to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The fall of popular social networks resulted in the collapse of the company’s shares and the outflow of users to other platforms. So, Pavel Durov boasted that a global failure in the work of competing networks led to the fact that the Telegram audience increased by 70 million users.

The fall of Facebook services persist for more than six hours, after which they were back to work. Alas, not for long. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp dropped again yesterday. According to the Downdetector resource, the flow of complaints about disruptions in the work of social networks began to grow exponentially in the evening. Most of the complaints were about problems with Instagram. Users noted the difficulties encountered with authorization, the inability to leave comments, put likes, send messages, publish photos and videos.

The failure in the work of social networks was noted by residents of countries such as Germany, France, the Netherlands, Canada, the USA, Great Britain, Russia and other regions. At the moment, the problems have been resolved, social networks have returned to their usual work. What this time led to the downfall of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is not reported. We are waiting for the official comment of the company.

Criticism on Facebook

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg decided for the first time to comment on the criticism of the company in the media. He said Facebook’s accusations that it puts profit over user safety “are simply not true.”

“It is difficult to see media coverage that distorts our work and our motives. At the most basic level, I think most of us are simply not aware of the false picture that is being painted about the company, ” Zuckerberg said in a letter to company staff on Tuesday, which he also posted online.

Zuckerberg’s letter was online shortly after a former employee of Facebook Hagen Frances (Frances Haugen) performed with the exposure of the company and gave testimony at a Senate hearing about his experiences in it. According to her, internal research has shown that the company prioritizes profit when driving divisions. Hagen also appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday night, stating that Facebook regularly makes decisions that put business interests ahead of user safety.

“There was a conflict of interest between what was good for society and what was good for Facebook, ” she said. ” Facebook has chosen optimization over and over again for its own interests, such as making more money.”

Facebook problems

Zuckerberg wrote that he has concerns about the story that Facebook does not care about the safety of children. Two Senate hearings in the past week focused on Facebook’s impact on teens and young children; with Hagen’s testimony taken into account.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal published an internal Facebook study from Hagen that shows Instagram worsened mental health problems for some of the teens using the app. By the way, the company has suspended a project to create a version of Instagram for children.

Also, “When it comes to the health or well-being of young people, every negative experience counts, ” wrote the CEO. ” We’ve worked for years on industry-leading initiatives to help people in times like these; and I’m proud of the work we’ve done.”

According to Zuckerberg, Facebook does not benefit from content that makes people angry or depressed; or from making all product decisions to maximize user experience. He added that when the company changed its news feed algorithm in 2018 to show more messages from friends and family, it did so despite the realization that it would make people spend less time on the social network.