Facebook Hit with Major Outage, Accusations from Former Employee
2021-10-06
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1Facebook suffered a major outage Monday that blocked the company's 3.5 billion users from its social media and messaging services.
2The company blamed the nearly six-hour outage on problems related to a "configuration change" made by its engineers.
3The outage affected Facebook's main services, as well as the company's Instagram and WhatsApp products.
4The service outage was the largest ever recorded by the company Downdetector, an online internet website tracker.
5Facebook said there was no evidence the outage was the result of an internet attack, and it appeared that no user data was endangered.
6It apologized to its users and said it was working to understand more about the cause.
7Several Facebook employees who wanted to remain anonymous spoke to Reuters news agency about the outage.
8They said they believed it was caused by a mistake inside an area of the company that controls how internet traffic is routed to its systems.
9The outage came one day after a former employee went public with her identity after providing secret documents about the company to The Wall Street Journal.
10The former data scientist, Frances Haugen, appeared Sunday night on the CBS television program 60 Minutes.
11The documents Haugen provided suggested that Facebook's own research had shown how the company's products and decisions can be harmful to users.
12Haugen also reached out anonymously to federal law enforcement to investigate Facebook.
13She provided company documents that she said showed how Facebook magnifies hate and misinformation and fuels political division.
14Haugen says Facebook has been dishonest in its public declarations about its efforts to fight hate speech and misinformation.
15The documents also showed that the company was aware that Instagram can harm the mental health of girls and young women.
16On Tuesday, Haugen discussed her criticisms of Facebook in front of the United States Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection.
17In her testimony, she accused Facebook's leaders of failing to make changes based on the research because they chose to put company profits above the safety of users.
18In written testimony provided to the Senate group, Haugen said Facebook's leadership "knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people."
19She added: "Congressional action is needed. They won't solve this crisis without your help."
20The Senate subcommittee is examining Facebook's use of its own research on Instagram that suggests possible harm for some of its young users, especially girls.
21The company has publicly downplayed such harmful effects.
22Research included in documents provided by Haugen suggests some females between 13-19 years old who heavily use the popular photo-sharing service feel increased peer pressure.
23This can lead to mental health and body-image problems.
24In some cases, this can result in eating disorders and suicidal thoughts, the research showed.
25One Facebook study showed that 13.5 percent of girls and young women said they feel Instagram can make thoughts of suicide worse, while 17 percent said it can make eating disorders worse.
26Haugen said she decided to go public and speak out because of her belief that "Facebook's products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy."
27I'm Bryan Lynn.
1Facebook suffered a major outage Monday that blocked the company's 3.5 billion users from its social media and messaging services. The company blamed the nearly six-hour outage on problems related to a "configuration change" made by its engineers. 2The outage affected Facebook's main services, as well as the company's Instagram and WhatsApp products. The service outage was the largest ever recorded by the company Downdetector, an online internet website tracker. 3Facebook said there was no evidence the outage was the result of an internet attack, and it appeared that no user data was endangered. It apologized to its users and said it was working to understand more about the cause. 4Several Facebook employees who wanted to remain anonymous spoke to Reuters news agency about the outage. They said they believed it was caused by a mistake inside an area of the company that controls how internet traffic is routed to its systems. 5The outage came one day after a former employee went public with her identity after providing secret documents about the company to The Wall Street Journal. The former data scientist, Frances Haugen, appeared Sunday night on the CBS television program 60 Minutes. 6The documents Haugen provided suggested that Facebook's own research had shown how the company's products and decisions can be harmful to users. 7Haugen also reached out anonymously to federal law enforcement to investigate Facebook. She provided company documents that she said showed how Facebook magnifies hate and misinformation and fuels political division. Haugen says Facebook has been dishonest in its public declarations about its efforts to fight hate speech and misinformation. 8The documents also showed that the company was aware that Instagram can harm the mental health of girls and young women. 9On Tuesday, Haugen discussed her criticisms of Facebook in front of the United States Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection. In her testimony, she accused Facebook's leaders of failing to make changes based on the research because they chose to put company profits above the safety of users. 10In written testimony provided to the Senate group, Haugen said Facebook's leadership "knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people." 11She added: "Congressional action is needed. They won't solve this crisis without your help." 12The Senate subcommittee is examining Facebook's use of its own research on Instagram that suggests possible harm for some of its young users, especially girls. The company has publicly downplayed such harmful effects. 13Research included in documents provided by Haugen suggests some females between 13-19 years old who heavily use the popular photo-sharing service feel increased peer pressure. This can lead to mental health and body-image problems. In some cases, this can result in eating disorders and suicidal thoughts, the research showed. 14One Facebook study showed that 13.5 percent of girls and young women said they feel Instagram can make thoughts of suicide worse, while 17 percent said it can make eating disorders worse. 15Haugen said she decided to go public and speak out because of her belief that "Facebook's products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy." 16I'm Bryan Lynn. 17The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. Susan Shand was the editor. 18We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. 19_____________________________________________ 20Words in This Story 21configure - v. to arrange something or change the controls on a computer or other device so it can be used in a particular way 22track - v. to record the progress or development of something 23anonymous - adj. not giving a name 24route - v. to send something somewhere using a particular way or direction 25magnify - v. to make something look larger or more important than it is 26astronomical - adj. extremely large 27downplay - v. make something seem less important or less bad than it really is 28peer pressure - n. the strong influence of a group on members of that group to behave as everyone else does 29stoke - v. to urge bad ideas of feelings in a lot of people