Users of the world’s leading social media platform, Facebook were left locked out of their accounts on Tuesday 5th March. People were mysteriously logged out of their accounts and were unable to log back in after receiving messages such as ones stating they had input the wrong password when they clearly had typed in the right one or that there were technical issues with the site. The problem effected both the web site and the app so people were left feeling isolated as they were unable to stay in contact with their friends and family, some of whom may be in different parts of the world.
The outage affected people right the way round the world so people who had friends and family who had moved abroad were unable to share photos and videos in their usual way to share experiences they may have had. It also left users with no access to forms of help and support they may need as charities and support groups for different issues use the site to publish information for their target audience to see and use.
This left people around the world in a very vulnerable position as people were afraid that their accounts had been hacked and were worried about the safety of their personal details which they had saved online. Their have been many cases where different web sites which are commonly used have been hacked and people have had their identities stolen leaving them open to financial and online fraud.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the issue was resolved on Tuesday and apologised on behalf of the tech giant without revealing much in terms of details.
“Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services. We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologise for any inconvenience,” Mr Stone said.
The outage will have had a massive impact on the way different businesses and service providers operate as many of them mainly operate and offer their services via social media which can make it easier for them to reach the right customers at the right time. Many people who are disabled and can’t get out and about easily will have been left with no access to the help and support they need in their daily lives. This leaves them feeling extremely vulnerable as we need to nurture a more inclusive environment in which people who are disabled can have access to the right forms of help and support they need.
A statement from Meta who own Facebook as well as other platforms read,
“Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services. We resolved the issue as quickly as possible and we apologise for any inconvenience,” the Meta Quest official X account posted.
The following day people were able to log back in to their accounts again and catch up on all the work and messages they may have missed.
‘No issues out of ordinary,’ US cybersecurity agency says
Taking note of yesterday’s global outage of Meta-owned platforms US government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said it did not observe any issues “out of the ordinary,” Axios first reported.
Tuesday was a big day in the US where 15 states elected delegates to decide which candidates would run for presidency.
Several users on social media raised concerns initially following the global outage affecting Facebook and Instagram that there may have been a cyberattack involved.
At a press briefing yesterday on election security, CISA said it was “aware of the incident and the global scope of it,” adding that malicious cyber activity was likely not involved.
