Facebook says 'configuration change' caused major service outage

Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Facebook says a major outage that darkened its platform -- as well as its Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger services for several hours on Monday -- was the result of a "configuration" change by someone at the company.

The social media company identified the problem in a blog post late Monday.

Facebook and its other platforms went offline for about six hours Monday before the company was able to restore them. The outage affected more than 3 billion users, it said.

The company said in its update that a configuration change on backbone routers led to the blackout.

"We want to make clear that there was no malicious activity behind that outage -- its root cause was a faulty configuration change on our end," Facebook wrote. "We also have no evidence that user data was compromised."

The company didn't say who made the configuration change or whether it was a planned maintenance item.

The outages drew about 14 million reports from users who were unable to access the social platforms. It also cost Facebook tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue, Forbes reported.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized for the outages in a post Monday night.

"Sorry for the disruption today -- I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about," he wrote.

The widespread blackout occurred one day after whistleblower Frances Haugen told CBS' 60 Minutes that the company has prioritized profits over public safety.

A former data scientist at Facebook, Haugen appeared in the Senate on Tuesday to testify about her concerns about the company as they relate to the spread of misinformation, hate speech and negative impacts on younger users.