Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp outages tied to withdrawn DNS

Facebook's worldwide outages seem to be tied to a DNS issue.

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Facebook dominated online conversations when its services went out completely earlier this morning. These issues extended to all of Facebook’s services, meaning Instagram and WhatsApp went down as well. Even programs that use Facebook for logins have been experiencing issues as a result. Though not much is known about the source of the outages, it seems to be a DNS issue.

Facebook’s services went down in the morning hours of October 4, 2021, and have remained down for hours. Many flocked to Twitter to discuss the outages, and to speculate on the source of the issue. Upon some light investigation, it seems to be an issue tied to the DNS (Domain Name System). If you try to visit Facebook.com, the error simply states that the website’s “DNS address could not be found.”

Investigative journalist Brian Krebs reported that the DNS records for Facebook and Instagram were withdrawn this morning. It’s this information that has led many to speculate that this was a coordinated attack on Facebook, perhaps orchestrated by somebody affiliated with the company.

Speaking of Facebook employees, other reports state that the issues with the company’s services run so deep, that it’s caused major problems for employees at the company’s physical headquarters. Sheera Frankel of the New York Times shared that she spoke with an employee of the social media company, who stated that workers have been “unable to enter buildings this morning to begin to evaluate extent of outage because their badges weren’t working to access doors.” NBC News reporter Kevin Collier shared that some employees that are already inside of offices can’t access certain rooms thanks to the outages.

The situation surrounding the Facebook and Instagram outages is still evolving, so we will continue to update this article and report on any new information that comes out.

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_

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