DNS: Reason Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Crashed Finally Revealed, and Cost of Downtime on Nigerian Users
- Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp disappeared from the internet on Monday, lasting for almost eight hours before it was fixed
- Mark Zuckerberg's companies issued apologies to their active users, but have been tight-lipped on the reason for the three social media crash
- DNS, known as Domain Name System, have been linked to the eight-hour crash, considering it the link between Facebook and users
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Apologies have been pouring in since Tuesday midnight from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, but what has been missing in the 'sorry' notes is why? - why the downtime that took almost 8-hours to fix?
The three social media companies have avoided giving reasons for users inability to connect to their platforms, offering the usual claim of system encountering "issue".
This is not the first time the three Mark Zuckerberg-owned apps will experience an outage, as they had suffered the same fate on March 19, 2021. The reason? - 'technical issue'.
Source: UGC
Supposed reason Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram crash this time
While Facebook has kept mute on the reason for the latest crash across its social media apps, one cause has been popping up, and that's DNS (Domain Name System).
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The disappearance of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram has been linked to DNS, which is the traffic warden that tells internet traffic where to go or highway that connects internet users to these social media platforms.
This means over 122.5 million Nigerians - 23.88 million Nigerians on Facebook (as of August 2020), 90 million from WhatsApp (as of 2021), and 8.67 million on Instagram - couldn't access these platforms simultaneously.
DNS route every internet user request to their desired destination. For example, if you type google.com, the system that will connect you to the Google page is DNS - every internet property are linked to it, and if you search for any site online and the landing page isn't brought out, there is a high probability that the website is not on the internet because if it is, DNS will take you there.
And earlier today, it was reportedly stated that Facebook withdrew its DNS routing authority, hence, cutting users access to its landing pages, but a reaction from Zuckerberg's firm showed that the tech giant might not have had a hand in the plug pullout.
The incident made the Facebook domain name go up for sale, but the company has resolved its technical issue, and both WhatsApp and Instagram are back on DNS, as users are now having access to the social networking sites.
Financial impact of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram crash on Nigerian users
Some users burn data on redownloading the social media apps, thinking it was their phone app having an issue, while others thought it was networking - no wonder MTN sent the following message to its users;
"Please be informed that WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram services are down worldwide. We are hopeful that their services will be restored soon."
Aside from data waste and internet concerns, some are actually worried about their money, as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have turned into a marketplace for many.
This was noted in the apology from Instagram, which specifically stated that it is sorry to businesses around the world that depended on it.
But sorry is not enough for someone like Zack Ukwuelebge, a media-buying expert who uses Facebook for daily ads. Ukwuelebge:
"People don't want sorry, what they want is compensation for period lost. We need to know if Facebook will reward by prolonging the period our promotion will run."
On Instagram, some news pages like Instablog, which constantly post news and advertisements to its 3.4 million followers, couldn't for almost eight hours - this means traffic to its page dropped and time-bound ads were affected.
Other marketplace pages couldn't post or sell their products on Instagram and WhatsApp as well, as they were forced to close their online shop for eight hours, losing potential clients and revenue during the same period.
The shutdown of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp cost Nigerians N2.17 billion in eight hours, with each costing N725.69 million, according to NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool.
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Services Shut Down in Major Outage
In related news, Legit.ng had previously reported that Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram encountered issues, as users couldn't access them.
The crash was sudden for many who were accessing the social media platform via browser, as they were greeted with error messages.
The app of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram stopped loading new posts or sending and receiving messages.
Source: Legit.ng
