Facebook out for 14 hours in huge crash

FACEBOOK and Instagram blamed its servers yesterday after suffering what is thought to be their worst ever crash.

The social media sites stopped operating properly for more than 14 hours as frustrated users complained they were unable to load posts or send messages.

Facebook said the crash – which in some cases meant users could not access the platforms at all – was caused by a ‘server configuration change’ that triggered a ‘cascading series of issues’.

The biggest impact was said to have been felt in Europe and North America, and Facebook is now said to be considering refunds for advertisers whose messages could not be delivered.

Only after the service was back up and running did Facebook, which also owns Instagram, offer an explanation. It said in a statement: ‘Yesterday we made a server configuration change that triggered a cascading series of issues.

‘As a result, many people had difficulty accessing our apps and services. We have resolved the issues and our systems have been recovering over the last few hours.’

It also denied rumours the crash was triggered by a ‘denial of service’ attack – which is when cybercriminals flood a website with traffic to block users’ access.

The crash heaped yet more pressure on the company, which is still reeling from a scandals surrounding its handling of user data and publishing of harmful content.