Facebook battles global outage and whistleblower revelations
October 5, 2021, 12:08 am

Facebook battles global outage and whistleblower revelations

Facebook Messenger

The Yahoo News reported, Facebook battled dueling crises Monday as potentially billions of users were impacted when its dominant social network went offline for seven hours, and the company fought against a whistleblower's damning revelations.

The Yahoo News said, the long-held fears and criticisms about the platform seem to have been backed up by Facebook's own research, which ex-worker Frances Haugen has turned over to authorities and the Wall Street Journal.

But as US senators prepared for her highly anticipated Tuesday testimony on the documents, Facebook went offline in an outage that hit users across its platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp.

Tracker Downdetector wrote on its website: "Billions of users have been impacted by the services being entirely offline today."

Facebook apologized in a tweet later Monday Silicon Valley time, just as the apps started to go back online.

The company added: "We've been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now."

According to the Yahoo News, Facebook has not communicated on the possible cause of the outage, but cyber security experts noted they had found signs that online routes that lead people to the social giant were disrupted.

According to a post from cyber security expert Brian Krebs: "Sometime this morning Facebook took away the map telling the world's computers how to find its various online properties."

In addition to the disruption to people, businesses and others that rely on the company's tools, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a financial hit.

Fortune's billionaire tracking website late Monday said Zuckerberg's personal fortune plunged by nearly $6 billion from the prior day to land at just under $117 billion.

For Facebook's rivals, it was a good day, however.

The messaging service Telegram went from the 56th most downloaded free ap in the US to the fifth, according to specialist firm SensorTower.

The encrypted messaging app Signal tweeted that "millions" of new users had joined, and added that it was "Signal and ready to mignal."

It was not the only Twitter user to crack jokes over the outage, though others complained about being cut off from contacts, their sources of income or business tools.

Some were philosophical, however -- such as Cindy Bennett, a baker in New York City, who told AFP: "I think the world would probably be a better place if everybody didn't know what everybody else was doing every second of every minute of every day."

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Facebook has pushed back hard against the outrage regarding its practices and impact, but this is just the latest crisis to hit the business.

US lawmakers for years have threatened to regulate Facebook and other social media giants to address criticisms that the platforms trample on privacy, provide a megaphone for dangerous misinformation and damage young people's well-being.

After years of criticism directed at social media, without major legislative overhauls, some experts were skeptical that change was coming.

Mark Hass, an Arizona State University professor said: "This is a situation where there's going to be a lot of smoke, and a lot of fury, but not a lot of action."

He added, noting authorities won't effectively be able to regulate content: "It's going to have to come down to the platforms, feeling pressure from their users feeling pressure from their employees."

Haugen, a 37-year-old data scientist from Iowa, has worked for companies including Google and Pinterest -- but said in an interview with CBS news show "60 Minutes" that Facebook was "substantially worse" than anything she had seen before.

Facebook's vice president of policy and global affairs Nick Clegg vehemently pushed back at the assertion its platforms are "toxic" for teens, days after a tense, hours-long congressional hearing in which US lawmakers grilled the company over its impact on the mental health of young users.

Source: yahoonews

Jordanian royal palace: the King owns properties and it is not a secret EU announces development of key commercial crossing between Gaza Strip and Israel

BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”