Social media services Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram are back up and running after an outage that lasted almost six hours and impacted millions across the globe. The services were down from about 4 pm GMT until around 10 pm on Monday. Users flocked to Twitter to share their frustrations, jokes, and assumptions about why the social media giant had shut down. But in a statement, Facebook said that the site’s faulty configuration change affected the company’s internal tools and systems which complicated attempts to resolve the problem. Downdetector, which tracks outages, said
A Facebook-backed subsea communications cable is set to become the world’s longest – directly connecting three continents — Africa, Europe, and Asia. On Tuesday, the major tech firm announced that the 2Africa cable would now extend more than 45,000 kilometers (27,960 miles) once it’s completed. The 8,000-kilometer extension will see 2Africa become the most extended subsea cable system in the world upon completion, Facebook said. This means it will also beat the current record set by the SEA-ME-WE 3 line that stretches 39,000 km and connects 33 countries across South East Asia,
Facebook is set to donate millions to Black-owned Wine Collection McBride Sisters to help them continue their efforts to give back to other Black women-led businesses. Through the SHE CAN Fund, run by the collection, Black women entrepreneurs will be eligible to receive $20,000 in Facebook advertising credits. They’ll also receive guidance from the Facebook Elevate community and learning program designed to fuel the growth of Black and Latinx and Hispanic-owned businesses, according to Afrotech. Members of the program are also encouraged to visit the Elevate Hub to join the Facebook Elevate
Facebook has announced a $100-million commitment to a program that supports small businesses owned by women and minorities by buying up their outstanding invoices. This means that small businesses, who otherwise could have had to go months without getting paid by their customers, will be able to pay off their staff or bills. The tech media giant’s ‘Invoice Fast Track program’ is its latest effort to build its relationship with small businesses, which use its social media platform for business and advertising. Although the program isn’t necessarily new because it
