After a six hour outage, Facebook has been restored to normal. This was due to DNS routing issues. Oculus VR, Whatsapp Messenger, Instagram, Messenger and Whatsapp were also affected by the outage. Some users are now able to access these services again. However, due to a DNS problem like this, it may take hours for all the networks to resume normal operation.
Facebook: We are grateful for your patience as you come back online
Monday morning, just before noon ET, was the start of the outage. This was the largest outage Facebook has suffered since a 2019 incident that took its site offline more than 24 hours. Brian Krebs, a journalist, cites a trusted source that told him that the incident did not have malicious origins. They said that it began with a routine BGP upgrade that went wrong. This caused the DNS routing information to be lost that Facebook requires so other networks can find its sites.
Remote users were able to access the network from anywhere, while those on the ground didn't have the necessary network access to fix the problem. This is similar to an earlier anonymous Reddit account that was quickly deleted. It cited pandemic protocol as the reason why fewer people were present than usual. This slows down restoration efforts.
A Facebook spokesperson Joe Osborne said to The Verge that the company is sorry for any outages today. We are aware that billions of people and companies around the globe depend on our products to keep them connected. As we return online, we appreciate your patience.
Facebook employees were also affected by the outage, which caused problems within their internal systems, preventing them from being able to access offices and communicating with one another. The Verge was told by some that they were using Outlook work-provided email accounts. This allowed Facebook employees to communicate with each other, but not to receive or send emails from outside addresses.
Facebook services are now back online, but it may take some time for them to reach 100%. I am sorry for every family member, small business and large that depends on us. Mike Schroepfer (@schrep) October 4, 2021
Updated October 4, 2006, at 6:40 PM ET: Facebook added a statement.
