Facebook's massive outbreak was the result of a server configuration change
Yesterday, as a result of a server configuration change, many people had trouble accessing our apps and services. We have now solved the problems and our systems recover. We apologize for the inconvenience and value everyone's patience.
̵[ads1]1; Facebook (@facebook) March 14, 2019
The accident, which plagued Facebook's flagship service, as well as Facebook-owned properties Instagram and WhatsApp, lasted nearly 14 hours, according to CNN . DownDetector, a site that allows users to report when a service does not work, first received a flood of reports from around 12:01 ET . The site received thousands of reports of problems every hour from users around the world, peaking at over 12,000 at 21:00 ET.
Facebook first published the problem Wednesday afternoon, and confirmed in a tweet that "Some people currently have difficulty accessing the Facebook family of apps." The company also tells concerns that the outbreaks were the result of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack. The confirmation came at 1:49 ET and it would be 11 hours before the problem was finally resolved. At 12:41 ET Thursday morning, Instagram confirmed it was back online via Twitter.
While outbreaks are a rare occurrence for Facebook, this was the second notable occurrence in recent months. Back in November, the company had a similar problem that left Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp unavailable to some users. This error was the result of a "routine test", according to the company.
