In the midst of Facebook’s biggest outage since 2008, politicians took to Twitter to poke fun at the social media giant.
Facebook’s apps, which also include Instagram and WhatsApp, started showing error messages around 11:40 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, according to the New York Times.
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CNBC reported that the outage is Facebook’s worst since 2008, when it was out for about a day. However, at the time, Facebook had about 80 million users compared to its current base of 3 billion. The company’s share price dropped Monday by about 5%.
Politicians took aim at Facebook while it was down. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, known for his unique Twitter account, pronounced Facebook dead.
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I hear other means of communication not working / I use Twitter to communicate w my constituents “Keep in touch” is on the bottom of every letter I write Let me kno what’s on ur mind
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) October 4, 2021
Others shared content intended for other platforms on Twitter instead:
Getting out the vote this weekend with @DouglasEmhoff. Wanted to post on Instagram, but guess it’ll have to wait. ?♂️ pic.twitter.com/D08Fr4AzfC
— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) October 4, 2021
Since Facebook and Instagram are down, I guess I’ll put this here. #facebookdown #whatsappdown pic.twitter.com/vOaBENbqCK
— Adriano Espaillat (@RepEspaillat) October 4, 2021
Since Facebook and Instagram are down, I’ll leave this pic of Cali here. pic.twitter.com/3ORjE3gMqV
— Rep. Josh Harder (@RepJoshHarder) October 4, 2021
Others suggested alternate activities:
Facebook and Instagram are still down, so you might as well tune in to CNN at 4pm ET to watch me talk about Facebook and Instagram.
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) October 4, 2021
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The outage comes amid congressional scrutiny of Facebook. Whistleblower Frances Haugen alleged Facebook, her former employer, hid its own research showing the platform amplifies misinformation and political unrest and causes harm to young users, particularly teenage girls.
Haugen is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security, according to Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s office.
