Today, Facebook officials reported the technical issue that triggered a widespread outage earlier this week had been fixed. The interruption also impacted Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, and is believed to be the biggest interruption ever for the massive social media company.
Lee McKnight is an associate professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies. He says we may never know the precise cause of the 22-hour Facebook and Instagram outage, but it does raise other questions about Facebook’s public obligation to report to regulators.
McKnight says:
“The recent Facebook and Instagram outage is blamed not on a virus, malware, or DDOS cyberattack, but a ‘server issue.’
“The fact that a network of billions of users could seize up – because of a typo in a line of code, other random human or machine error, or a malicious actor intending to disrupt Facebook’s servers – should not surprise us since we have been here before. We may or may not ever know the precise cause of the epic 22-hour outage. Because it is a private firm operating private networks, there is no public service obligation on Facebook to report on its performance to regulators as there is for a telecommunications firm or other service providers. Should there be?
“In sum, yesterday’s outage and people’s reaction that something vital was taken from them suggests it is time to broaden the regulatory debate around the new dominant platforms of our times, and our lives, to include both privacy and data protection, and perhaps other additional reporting and performance obligations.”
To request interviews or get more information:
Daryl Lovell
Media Relations Manager
Division of Marketing and Communications
T 315.443.1184 M 315.380.0206
dalovell@syr.edu | @DarylLovell
The Nancy Cantor Warehouse, 350 W. Fayette St., 2nd Fl., Syracuse, NY 13202
news.syr.edu | syracuse.edu
Syracuse University
The merger of Paramount and Skydance created a major new player in Hollywood, and the new combined company is already making a splash with its purchase of the U.S. rights to air UFC fights. But the political undertones of the…
This week, the White House announced that it was doubling tariffs to 50% on imports from India, due to the country buying oil from Russia. Reporters looking for an expert to discuss how these tariffs will impact global trade and…
As Major League Baseball prepares for a historic moment this weekend with Jen Pawol becoming the first woman to umpire a major league game, Falk College of Sport Professor Mary Graham calls it “overdue,” and emphasizes the broader implications for…
August marks 80 years since atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945—quickly bringing an end to World War II. At the time, the U.S. was calling for Japan’s unconditional surrender,…
If you’re covering the latest developments with Iran and their impact on Israel, the U.S., China, Russia, global supply chains, and more, Syracuse University faculty experts are available for interviews this week. Below, you’ll find a list of experts along…
If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.
