Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram coming back online after widespread outage

Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram coming back online after widespread outage

Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are starting to come back online after a widespread outage lasted more than six hours on Monday, disrupting communications for the company's roughly 3 billion users. 

"To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: we're sorry. We've been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us," Facebook said in a tweet.

The three social networks -- all owned by Facebook -- started having issues around 11:40 a.m. ET, according to Down Detector, a crowdsourced website that tracks online outages. 

The company acknowledged that it was having issues shortly after noon ET, saying in a tweet from its WhatsApp account that it's "working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible." Similar messages were shared on the Twitter accounts for Facebook and Facebook Messenger. 

Hours later, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer said in a tweet that the company was "experiencing networking issues" and working as fast as possible "debug and restore" its services.

Facebook later said in a company blog that it believed a "faulty configuration" change was the cause of the outage

The outage -- and the resulting reaction on Twitter -- underscores both our dependency on the social networks and the love-hate relationship they inspire. Being unable to post on Facebook or Instagram elicited equal parts frustration and relief, with some relishing the break from being constantly connected to our digital lives. Ironically, it's those very social media platforms that allow us to express our collectively mixed feelings about the situation. 

Outages are nothing new in the online world, and services often go offline or experience slowdowns. Facebook's outage on Monday, however, was unusual in that it struck a suite of the company's products, including its central site and WhatsApp, an encrypted messaging service used widely around the world. Facebook is deeply enmeshed in global infrastructure and the outage disrupted communications for the company's billions of users. The website and its services are used for everything from casual chatting to business transactions.

It isn't immediately clear what caused the issue for the three properties. Security expert Brian Krebs said it appears to be a DNS related-issue, adding that something "caused the company to revoke key digital records that tell computers and other Internet-enabled devices how to find these destinations online."

Cloudflare, a content delivery network that hosts customers data for fast access around the world, had its own explanation of what might have happened.

"Facebook and its sites had effectively disconnected themselves from the Internet," Cloudflare concluded. "It was as if someone had 'pulled the cables' from their data centers all at once and disconnected them from the internet.

Facebook's problem involved a combination of two fundamental internet technologies, BGP and DNS, both instrumental to helping computing devices to connect across the network. The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) helps establish the best way to send data hopping from one device to another until it reaches its final destination. The Domain Name System (DNS) translates human comprehensible network names like facebook.com into the numeric Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that actually are used to address and route data across the internet.

Just before 9 a.m. PT, Cloudflare detected a flurry of unusual updates from Facebook describing changes to how BGP should handle Facebook's part of the network. Specifically, the updates cut off network routes to Facebook's DNS servers. With those servers offline, typing "facebook.com" in a browser or using the app to try to reach Facebook failed.

In addition to Facebook's services and apps being down, some of the company's internal tools were also reportedly impacted by the outage. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said in a tweet that it felt like a "snow day."

The Facebook outage appears to have caused a headache for Twitter, as well, with more people heading there after finding Facebook down.

"Sometimes more people than usual use Twitter," Twitter tweeted Monday afternoon. "We prepare for these moments, but today things didn't go exactly as planned."

The outage cost Facebook an estimated $60 million in forgone revenue as of 1 p.m. PT/4 p.m. ET, according to Fortune and Snopes. The two publications calculated the lost revenue by using the roughly $29 billion the company reported in its second-quarter earnings. Facebook makes roughly $319.6 million per day in revenue, $13.3 million per hour, $220,000 per minute, and $3,700 per second. The outlets then used those numbers to calculate revenue loss based on how long the outage has lasted.

Shares in the social network dropped nearly 5% to $326.23 per share amid a broad selloff in social media stocks. (Shares of Twitter and Snap were both off more than 5%.)

The slide in Facebook stock weighed on CEO Mark Zuckerberg's net worth, which dropped to $121.6 billion. His net worth is now less than Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and is the fifth wealthiest person in the world, according to Bloomberg. 

The outage creates another headache for Facebook, which is battling a massive public relations nightmare in the wake of a whistleblower's allegations that the social network is aware of harm that content on its services causes. The allegations were detailed in a series of stories published by The Wall Street Journal based on research leaked by the whistleblower that said the company ignored research about how Instagram can harm teen girls and that an algorithm change made users angrier. 

The whistleblower, a former Facebook product engineer named Frances Haugen, is scheduled to testify to Congress on Tuesday. She detailed some of her allegations in a televised interview on Sunday.

"Facebook, over and over again, chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money," she told 60 Minutes' Scott Pelley.

As is often the case with outages, users flocked to other social networks to complain and also revel in the Facebook outage. Instagram and Facebook quickly became the top trending topic on Twitter in the US, and dominated other locations around the world as well. Twitter even got in on the joke, with the company's official account tweeting, "Hello literally everyone," and CEO Jack Dorsey asking "how much?" in response to tweets suggesting Facebook's domain was for sale.

This isn't the first time Facebook has suffered from a lengthy outage. In 2019, Facebook's services suffered from a daylong outage that the company blamed on a "server configuration issue." In previous outages, the social network has also cited a DNS issue or a central software problem as causes.,

Read more:  Funniest memes and jokes about Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram outage

CNET has contacted Facebook for additional comment and we'll update when we hear back. 

CNET's Carrie Mihalcik and Stephen Shankland contributed to this report. 

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Can Facebook be broken up? What you need to know

Can Facebook be broken up? What you need to know

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wields so much power that even one of the social network's co-founders thinks it's both "unprecedented" and "un-American."

Chris Hughes, who co-founded Facebook with Zuckerberg while they were students at Harvard, called for the social network to be broken up in an op-ed published Thursday by The New York Times. "I'm angry that his focus on growth led him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks," Hughes wrote, referring to Facebook's boss and major shareholder. "I'm disappointed in myself and the early Facebook team for not thinking more about how the News Feed algorithm could change our culture, influence elections and empower nationalist leaders."

Facebook's rapid growth has been fueled by acquisitions, including Instagram and WhatsApp, a messaging service. Critics and experts say Facebook simply purchased its competition, rather than innovating to meet the challenges they posed.

"Their whole business model is to identify potential threats and then buy them or beat them in some way," said Stephen Diamond, an associate professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law.

And Facebook has been called out for not doing enough to combat election meddling, misinformation and hate speech. Its enormous power, critics argue, needs to be kept in check. Facebook doesn't want to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp.

Here's what you need to know:

Who wants Facebook broken up? Why?

Calls to break up Facebook aren't new. But it is startling to hear one of the company's co-founders call for such an extreme measure. Hughes argues that Zuckerberg holds so much power that even the company's board of directors can't keep him accountable. Zuckerberg controls around 60 percent of Facebook's voting shares, which means the board technically can't fire him even if he messes up.

Hughes isn't alone. Advocacy groups, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Color of Change and Common Sense Media, have previously asked the Federal Trade Commission, the agency that enforces antitrust law, to make Instagram and WhatsApp separate companies. A split would also make it easier for other social media companies to compete with Facebook, the organizations argue.

In addition, a group called Freedom from Facebook has called on the FTC to force Facebook to spin off its Messenger service too.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts who's also a presidential candidate, is among the lawmakers who want to break up Facebook, as well as other tech giants, including Google and Amazon.

How would Facebook be broken up?

One way to break up Facebook would be for the federal government to file a lawsuit against the company, arguing it stifles competition. That could prompt a negotiation between the parties that could lead to Facebook agreeing to make itself smaller.

Another alternative would be for Congress to pass a law covering tech monopolies. Warren has proposed such a law, which would require tech platforms that take in $25 billion or more in sales to "structurally separate" their products. Amazon, for example, would have to spin off its house brand Amazon Basics. Warren said that if she won the presidential election her administration would also appoint regulators to unwind the mergers of Instagram and WhatsApp from Facebook.

What does Facebook think about the idea?

Facebook has pushed back, arguing that breaking up the company wouldn't hold the social network more accountable for its actions. Instead, Facebook has called for more internet regulation around harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability.

"Accountability of tech companies can only be achieved through the painstaking introduction of new rules for the internet," Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of global affairs and communications, said in a statement Thursday. The social network also said that having Instagram and WhatsApp under Facebook helps them fight spam, election meddling and crime. Facebook says it has plenty of competition, pointing to YouTube, Snapchat, iMessage and WeChat, among others.

Clegg touched on all those points in a Saturday editorial in The New York Times.

Have tech companies been broken up in the past?

Yes, but it's unusual. In 1974, the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T but the matter wasn't settled until eight years later. The telephone company was required to spin off two-thirds of its assets into separate companies, according to a 1982 article from The Washington Post. The government has also tried to break up Microsoft and in 2000 a US federal judge ordered that the tech giant split into two companies. Microsoft appealed and the decision was reversed.

What would this mean for users of Facebook?

Facebook is trying to integrate its messaging services so users of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp can send messages to one another without switching apps. Splitting up the companies might prevent that from happening.

Those who want the government to break Facebook up argue the move would fuel more competition among social media companies, which could mean more options for consumers. About 2.7 billion people use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Messenger every month.

Diamond said that breaking up Facebook could also lead to the company stepping up its privacy efforts to match its social media competitors.

What are the chances this happens?

The FTC declined to comment on whether it's looking to break up Facebook. But if history is any indication, it would be a rare move.

"I doubt there is sufficient political momentum to break up Facebook," Diamond said. "I'm skeptical, even though I think there might be good reasons to do it."

Originally published May 10, 5:40 a.m. PT.
Update, May 11: Adds mention of Facebook VP Nick Clegg's Saturday editorial in the Times.

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Facebook and Instagram Will Let You Post Your NFTs

Facebook and Instagram Will Let You Post Your NFTs

Facebook and Instagram users in the US will be able to post their NFTs (nonfungible tokens) from this week, Meta said in a blog post Monday. 

The feature allows people to connect their digital wallets to either Facebook or Instagram so they can post their purchased or created digital collectibles. Linking on one app will allow cross-posting to the other. Meta clarified that no feels will be imposed when posting on Instagram or Facebook. Meta says this feature is set for a limited number of people in the US, but didn't clarify further. 

Meta declined to comment, but linked to a tweet by its vice president of financial technologies, Stephane Kasriel. 

NFTs are digital tokens that are applied to digital assets, such as videos, pictures, memes and even tweets. A digital token is a unique identifier telling people who owns a specific piece of digital media, even if everyone else can see it online. NFTs are related to cryptocurrency in that the tokens are recorded on a digital ledger. Snoop Dogg and Eminem used their Bored Ape NFTs in a music video shown off at Sunday's Video Music Awards. NFT art galleries have also been popping up. 

The expansion by Meta into NFT posting comes as the company, formally known as Facebook, pivoted last year from being a social media company to a metaverse company. The metaverse is an online composite universe allowing multiple virtual environments and assets to interact simultaneously. An example of this in media is Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. 

Meta believes the metaverse is the next digital frontier and has been investing heavily in its Quest VR headset division, with a new model expected to land in October. Earlier this year, Meta began allowing people to connect their Coinbase wallets and other accounts to Instagram allowing posts of NFTs minted on the Flow blockchain in 100 countries. Given the importance of interoperability of assets within the metaverse, expanding NFT posting to US users is a necessary step. 

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Facebook, YouTube to Restrict Some Russian State-Controlled Media Across Europe

Facebook, YouTube to Restrict Some Russian State-Controlled Media Across Europe

Facebook, YouTube and other social networks are restricting access to Russian state-controlled media outlets RT and Sputnik across Europe, amid calls to crack down on disinformation. The move will likely heighten tensions between some of the world's most popular social networks and the Russian government.

Facebook's parent company, Meta, said Monday that it will limit the accessibility of Sputnik and RT across the European Union.  

"We have received requests from a number of governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state-controlled media. Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time," Nick Clegg, who oversees global affairs at Meta and is a former UK deputy prime minister, said in a tweet.

Clegg didn't respond to questions on Twitter about what the restrictions entail, how many requests Meta has received and from which governments or how many Facebook users will be impacted by these restrictions. Clegg also didn't say when these restrictions would start. RT's Facebook page has 7.4 million followers and Sputnik's Facebook page has 1.4 million followers. The media outlets are also on Facebook-owned Instagram, a photo and video service. RT has 839,000 followers on Instagram and Sputnik has 116,000 followers. 

On Tuesday, Google said in a post on Twitter that it would block YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe. 

"Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we're blocking YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately," reads a tweet from the official Google Europe account. "It'll take time for our systems to fully ramp up. Our teams continue to monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action."

Google, the video giant's parent company, didn't immediately respond to questions on how many YouTube channels would be blocked. RT's main channel on YouTube has more than 4.6 million subscribers, while Sputnik has over 300,000 subscribers. 

Facebook's move came a day after Meta announced it had restricted access to several accounts, including from Russian state-controlled media, in Ukraine after a request from the government there. Meta has been facing more pressure to take action against these media outlets for spreading propaganda and false claims after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

On Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet that the EU's executive branch is developing tools to ban "toxic and harmful disinformation" published by RT and Sputnik and their subsidiaries. The EU is an economic and political union of 27 countries, including France, Germany and Spain.

Following Facebook's move on Tuesday, RT took issue with unspecified comments from European government officials and actions by social media platforms, with its deputy editor-in-chief saying in a statement that no one had pointed to specific evidence of falsehoods appearing on its site during the Ukraine crisis. In its own statement, Sputnik's press arm characterized the restrictions as an "information war against the Russian media."

RT and Sputnik are on other social media sites, including Twitter and TikTok. A spokeswoman for TikTok said users in the EU won't see content from RT's and Sputnik's accounts. Twitter started labeling state-affiliated media, but a spokeswoman said the company had "nothing to share at this time" when asked if the company was also planning to restrict RT and Sputnik. 

The rare move by Meta also raises questions about whether Russia will further restrict access to Facebook and Instagram. Ukrainians have put pressure on Facebook to remove access to the main social network and Instagram in Russia, but Clegg said Sunday those platforms are also being used by protesters and as a source of independent information. "The Russian Government is already throttling our platform to prevent these activities. We believe turning off our services would silence important expression at a crucial time," Clegg said in a tweet on Sunday.

Russia said last week that it's partly restricting access to Facebook after the social network refused to stop fact-checking and labeling content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. Russia's telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, alleges Facebook violated "fundamental human rights" by restricting the country's state-controlled media.

Facebook and YouTube have also been barring ads from Russia state media. Twitter also said last week that it's temporarily pausing ads in Ukraine and Russia. 

On Sunday, Meta also announced that it removed a network of about 40 fake accounts, Pages and Groups on Facebook and Instagram from Russia and Ukraine. Meta said some of these accounts pretended to be news editors and ran fake news websites and published stories that included "claims about the West betraying Ukraine and Ukraine being a failed state." Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, created a special operations center with experts who speak Ukrainian and Russian to help monitor its platform.

CNET's Carrie Mihalcik contributed to this report.

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Facebook Portal Plus review: A decent video-chat display marred by its maker

Facebook Portal Plus review: A decent video-chat display marred by its maker

In 2019 we reviewed Facebook's Portal, Portal Plus and Portal TV devices, video chatting displays and cameras that included fun AR, but left us scratching our head about their real practicality. We didn't feel comfortable recommending them due to Facebook's questionable data privacy issues in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica breach. 

Fast-forward to today and things haven't improved for Facebook. Despite continued investigations into how Facebook uses and shares data, the company is pressing forward with new, camera-focused hardware. The $350 Portal Plus is Facebook's most expensive display. The 14-inch touchscreen comes with AR features, video chatting and a handful of streaming music and media services. Alexa is built in for smart home commands and general knowledge inquiries. 

Molly Price/CNET

Even without the dark cloud of Facebook's branding hovering over the Portal Plus, it isn't a device worthy of anyone's $350. Apps are limited, controls aren't always intuitive and the dual-assistant setup of "Hey, Portal" and Alexa doesn't simplify anything. For the same (or likely less) money, you'd be better off with a tablet and folio stand or a smart display, depending on your wants and needs.

I've included two charts at the end of this review comparing tablets, displays and Portals. For now, let's dive into the details of the Portal Plus. One note: I reviewed the new, $200 Portal Go alongside this larger model and the two are extremely similar save for a few details of the physical design and of course the size and price. For that reason, several sections in this review are similar to my observations about the Portal Go. 

The Portal Plus is large and looks good displaying my favorite photos.

Molly Price/CNET

Design

The Portal Plus' second generation has an entirely different look than the first. It's sleeker, with a slightly smaller 14-inch display with a 2,160x1,440-pixel resolution mounted on a rectangular speaker base. You can tilt the display up or down. A physical camera shutter and mute button offer manual privacy for the 12-megapixel front-facing camera that has a 131-degree field of view and will pan and zoom to keep you in frame.

Beneath the fabric base, a four-mic array listens for your "Hey, Portal," "Hey, Facebook" or, "Hey, Alexa" commands. Two 5-watt full range speakers and one 20-watt woofer put out plenty of sound for music, video streaming and chatting. The Portal Plus uses what Facebook calls "Smart Sound" AI to reduce background noise for the person speaking to Portal. 

The first-gen Portal Plus was big and bulky, but its screen could rotate. 

James Martin/CNET

The design is a sure improvement over the bulky, original Portal Plus. However, this screen can't rotate between landscape and portrait orientations. 

Features

Nearly everything about the Portal Plus is identical to the Portal Go, only on a larger and corded scale. The limited amount of apps available on these two devices is a disappointment. These new Portals just doesn't do as much as any tablet or smart display and the Portal Plus costs more than many of those. There are so few apps (24 to be exact) that I can list them all right here. If I tried to do that with a tablet, Amazon Echo skills or Google Nest compatible apps and devices we would need a bigger internet. Here's the full list, in alphabetical order:

• Alexa
• BlueJeans
• Browser
• Calendar
• CBS News
• Deezer
• Facebook Live
• Food Network
• GoToMeeting
• iHeartRadio
• Newsy
• Pandora
• Photo Booth
• Plex
• Red Bull TV
• SideChef
• Spotify
• Story Time
• Tidal Music
• Watch
• Webex Meetings
• Workplace
• Workplace Live
• Zoom

The odd thing about this list is what's not on it. There aren't apps for Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or WhatsApp. Instead, features from those apps are built into various parts of the Portal experience. You can link your Instagram account to display your Instagram feed photos on the Portal Plus' ambient screen. Messenger chat rooms are used when you video-call your contacts. You can use WhatsApp to set up the Portal instead of Facebook (but doing so will disable the "Hey, Portal" voice integration). 

I asked Facebook representatives why these in-house apps aren't available. Here's what they had to say:

The core use for Portal is video calling and to make it easier for people to connect with their family, friends and colleagues. You can use the web browser on Portal to access your favorite Facebook apps. People have other devices they typically use for browsing Facebook, Instagram, etc.

That makes sense. My first instinct wouldn't be to scroll Instagram on a display that isn't handheld like my phone or tablet. I probably also wouldn't choose to hunt and peck on a vertical touchscreen to reply to WhatsApp messages. All that to say, just be warned if you think this device primarily for your social media apps -- it isn't. 

Facebook could add more apps to the Portal Plus with future updates. Smart displays from other brands have taken this approach. I expect this list to expand, but for now these are the only for apps available on the Portal Plus. 

Video chatting

You can video chat with BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Webex, Workplace and Zoom. Support for Microsoft Teams is in the works for later this year. Video-calling your contacts begins in the Contacts app, where you'll create a Messenger room in order to chat. The contacts available here are pulled from the WhatsApp or Facebook account you used to set up the Portal. However, if someone you want to call doesn't have a Facebook or Messenger account, you can send them a link to join the room. 

The Portal Plus's AR camera and Story Time are the headlining features of this device. When you're in a video call, tapping the Experiences button brings up a menu to access Story Time, Photo Casting, Watch Together or Effects. This is where you'll find fun filters and special effect backgrounds. 

Here's a collection of the weird and wacky filters you'll find in the Portal Plus Photo Booth app and in Messenger room effects.

Molly Price/CNET

Open Story Time during a call (or on your own without a call ongoing) and you'll find stories with filters and special effects that interact with the person in front of the camera. The story text appears in the top left corner of the screen and little instructions pop up here and there to show you how to initiate some special effects.

Stories include popular series like Dr. Seuss, Pete the Cat, Llama Llama, Todd Parr and Jon Burgerman. You can also select classics like Three Little Pigs, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Little Red Riding Hood. Story Time is the most fun you can have on Portal. I just wish it were available as an app on third-party devices like tablets or other displays.

Privacy

We can't really review Facebook hardware without pointing out the ongoing saga of Facebook's data and privacy issues. Dig deeper into the Portal privacy features here if you like, but these are the big takeaways.

The Portal Plus is listening for the "Hey, Portal" or "Hey, Facebook" wake word. If it detects the phrase, Portal sends a transcript and recording of that voice interaction to Facebook. Those "Hey, Portal" and "Hey, Facebook" transactions are kept on Facebook's servers for up to three years, while "false wakes" are deleted within 90 days of detection. That's if you don't take any action. If you choose to, you can review and delete your voice interactions in the Portal Plus's settings. 

You could choose to disable voice interaction recording entirely in the device's settings, but it is turned on by default. If you only connect your Portal to WhatsApp on initial setup, "Hey, Portal" won't work at all, thanks to WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption. 

A physical camera shutter and mute button add some peace of mind. A red light indicates the microphone is muted. The Portal Plus's camera uses AI technology that is processed locally, not on Facebook servers. The camera doesn't have any facial recognition abilities. 

A physical shutter, red light and on-screen notification let you know the camera and microphones are turned off.

Molly Price/CNET

Better options

There are two ways you could approach Portal Plus alternatives, but you need to know what exactly you're after. If you're looking for a device that's great for streaming video, has thousands of apps, including social media, get a tablet.

There are plenty of 10- to 15-inch tablets available that provide a big enough screen and a good camera. Nearly any model from Samsung, Amazon or Apple will give you more features, processing power, apps for streaming and social media platforms. Treat yourself to an Apple Pencil or S Pen for Apple or Samsung models, and you've got even more options.

If you're looking for an Alexa-focused smart home screen, the Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 10 are both far better (and often more affordable) options with broader apps for streaming and video chatting. Both are often available for less than the Portal Plus' $350 list price.

The following charts compare popular tablets and smart displays with Portal Plus and Portal Go.

Portals vs. tablets

	Portal Go	Portal Plus	Galaxy Tab A7	Amazon Fire HD 10	iPad (2021)
Price	$200	$350	$650	$150	from $329
Screen size	10.1 inches	14 inches	11 inches	10.1 inches	10.2 inches
Resolution	1,280x800	2,160x1,440	2,560x1,600	1,920x1,200	2,160x1,620
Camera	12 megapixels	12 megapixels	8 megapixels front, 13 and 5 megapixels rear	2 megapixels front, 5 megapixels rear	12 megapixels front, 8 megapixels rear
Physical shutter	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Field of view	125 degrees	131 degrees	80 degrees	Not listed	122 degrees
Portable	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Kid mode	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Limited (Guided Access)
Video apps	Zoom, Webex, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Workplace	Zoom, Webex, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Workplace	All available from the Google Play Store	All available from the Amazon app store	All available from the App Store
Music apps	Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, iHeartRadio	Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, iHeartRadio	All available from the Google Play Store	All available from the Amazon Appstore	All available from the App Store
Streaming apps	Facebook Watch, Red Bull TV, Food Network, Facebook Live, CBS News, Plex	Facebook Watch, Red Bull TV, Food Network, Facebook Live, CBS News, Plex	All available from the Google Play Store	All available from the Amazon Appstore	All available from the App Store
Smart home compatibility	Alexa	Alexa	Alexa app, Google Assistant app	Alexa	Siri, Alexa app, Google Assistant app
Internet browser	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Portals vs. smart displays

	Portal Go	Portal Plus	Nest Hub Max	Echo Show 8	Echo Show 10
Price	$200	$350	$229	$100	$250
Screen size	10.1 inches	14 inches	10 inches	8 inches	10.1 inches
Resolution	1,280x800	2,160x1,440	1,280x800	1,280x800	1,280x800
Camera	12 megapixels	12 megapixels	6.5 megapixels	13 megapixels	13 megapixels
Physical shutter	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Field of view	125 degrees	131 degrees	127 degrees	110 degrees	110 degrees
Portable	Yes	No	No	No	No
Kid mode	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Video apps	Zoom, Webex, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Workplace	Zoom, Webex, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Workplace	Zoom, Google Duo	Zoom, Skype, Chime	Zoom, Skype, Chime
Music apps	Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, iHeartRadio	Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, iHeartRadio	Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Deezer	Apple music, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, Audible, SiriusXM, Headspace, NPR and more	Apple music, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, Audible, SiriusXM, Headspace, NPR and more
Streaming apps	Facebook Watch, Red Bull TV, Food Network, Facebook Live, CBS News, Plex	Facebook Watch, Red Bull TV, Food Network, Facebook Live, CBS News, Plex	Netflix, Youtube, CW, HBONow, Starz, Red Bull TV, Crackle	Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Food Network, Red Bull TV, Tubi	Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Food Network, Red Bull TV, Tubi
Smart home compatibility	Alexa	Alexa	Google	Alexa	Alexa
Internet browser	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes

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Facebook Suspends Rules to Allow Some Calls for Violence Against Russian Invaders

Facebook Suspends Rules to Allow Some Calls for Violence Against Russian Invaders

What's happening

Facebook's parent company Meta said it's temporarily allowing some violent content against Russian invaders, making an unusual exemption to its rules against hate speech.

Why it matters

The move is already escalating tensions between Meta and Russia. Roskomnadzor, the country's telecommunications agency, said Friday it's restricting Instagram, a photo-and-video service owned by Meta. Russia's Investigative Committee is opening a criminal investigation against Meta.

What's next

Russia might take more actions against Meta as it moves forward with the criminal case against the social media giant. The company also owns messaging app WhatsApp though no restrictions against that service have been announced.

Facebook parent company Meta is setting aside its rules and allowing some violent speech against Russian invaders, saying it views these remarks as political speech. 

"As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as 'death to the Russian invaders.' We still won't allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians," Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in a tweet Thursday.

The rare exemption to the company's rules against hate speech, which bars people from posting content targeting a group of people, including violent content, shows how the world's largest social network is moderating content about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The move, though, is already escalating tensions between Meta and the Russian government. 

Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement Friday that it's opened a criminal case against Meta for allegedly violating the criminal code of the Russian Federation that bars public calls for extremist activities and assistance in terrorist activities. 

"As part of the criminal case, the necessary investigative measures are being carried out to give a legal evaluation to actions of Andy Stone and other employees of the American corporation," the committee, which reports to Russia President Vladimir Putin, said in the statement. 

Facebook has been facing a greater number of calls to crack down more heavily on propaganda and misinformation. Last week, Russia said it was blocking the social network after Facebook started to make content from Russian state-controlled media tougher to find on its platform and tapped third party fact-checkers to debunk false claims. On Friday, Russia's telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement that the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia demanded that the agency also restrict access to Meta-owned photo-and-video service Instagram. Roskomnadzor said the restrictions will take effect March 14 to allow users to transfer their photos and videos to other social networks and notify their followers and contacts. 

Nick Clegg, who leads global affairs at Meta, said in a statement Friday that the company's policies are "focused on protecting people's rights to speech as an expression of self-defense in reaction to a military invasion of their country." He added that Meta is applying the exemption only in Ukraine and that it made the decision because of "extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances."

"We have no quarrel with the Russian people. There is no change at all in our policies on hate speech as far as the Russian people are concerned. We will not tolerate Russophobia or any kind of discrimination, harassment or violence towards Russians on our platform," Clegg said.

The Russian Embassy in the US also responded to Thursday's decision, saying Meta's actions were equivalent to a declaration of information war against Russia, according to a report by Russian state-operated news agency Novosti. In a post on Twitter, the embassy called on US authorities to "stop the extremist activities of Meta."

For years, Facebook has also grappled with criticism that its rules are enforced unevenly. The company created a semi-independent oversight board to weigh in on its toughest content moderation decisions. 

Reuters, which first reported the policy change, said that in certain countries, including Russia, Ukraine and Poland, the social media giant is also allowing some posts that call for death to Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The changes also apply to Instagram. 

Citing internal emails, Reuters said that calls for death won't be allowed if they contain other targets or include "two indicators of credibility" such as the location or method of death. The posts must also be about the invasion of Ukraine. Calls for violence against Russian soldiers will also be allowed in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Also Thursday, Facebook and Twitter removed posts from Russia's embassy in the UK over false claims surrounding the bombing of a maternity hospital in the Ukraine city of Mariupol on Wednesday.

At least one child and two adults were killed at the hospital and another 17 were injured, Ukraine officials have said.

Meta didn't immediately answer questions about how long it expects the exemption will be in place or the number of posts that may be impacted. 

Meta hasn't released data about how many Facebook and Instagram users are in Russia. App analytics firm Sensor Tower estimates that since 2014 Instagram has been installed 166 million times from Google Play and the Apple App Store in Russia. Facebook in Russia has an estimated 56.2 million installs. Sensor Tower says that based on that data, Russia is the fifth largest market for Instagram and the 20th largest market for Facebook.

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Hackers Target Ukrainian Military, Journalists on Facebook

Hackers Target Ukrainian Military, Journalists on Facebook

Facebook's parent company Meta said late Sunday that hackers are increasingly targeting Ukrainian military officials and journalists to spread disinformation. Hackers tied to an operation known as "Ghostwriter" compromised some Ukrainian Facebook accounts, but Meta said it wasn't naming the victims to protect their privacy.

"We detected attempts to target people on Facebook and post YouTube videos portraying Ukrainian troops as weak and surrendering to Russia," said David Agranovich, director of global threat disruption at Meta, at a virtual press conference. 

The threats underscores the variety of challenges social media companies face as they try to combat false claims about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Meta added features in Ukraine meant to keep users safe such as the ability to lock their Facebook profile and remove the ability to view and search friends lists. The company, like Twitter, is encouraging users to enable two-factor authentication, an extra layer of security that makes it tougher for hackers to break into accounts.

Ghostwriter typically targets people through email first through tactics such as trying to trick people into clicking on a malicious link to steal their login credentials, Agranovich said. After compromising a target's email, they will then break into people's social media accounts and use those accounts to post disinformation. 

Nathaniel Gleicher, who heads Meta's security policy, said as social media users take steps to protect their accounts, they should also think about how their information could get compromised on other apps and devices. Gleicher said Ghostwriter targeted a "small number" of Facebook users but the group is going after valuable targets such as public figures.

Mandiant Threat Intelligence, which has done research on Ghostwriter, said in a report published last year that it found evidence that suggests the operation has ties to a suspected state-sponsored cyber espionage actor called UNC1151. In November, Mandiant Threat Intelligence linked UNC1151 to the Belarusian government.

"We cannot rule out Russian contributions to either UNC1151 or Ghostwriter. However, at this time, we have not uncovered direct evidence of such contributions," Mandiant Threat Intelligence said in a blog post.

The European Union said in a press release in September that some EU member states have associated Ghostwriter with the Russian state. 

Meta also pulled down a network of about 40 fake accounts, Pages and Groups on Facebook and Instagram from Russia and Ukraine. The accounts targeted Ukrainians across multiple social networks including on Twitter, YouTube, Telegram, Odnoklassniki and VK. These fake accounts pretended to be news editors, a former aviation engineer and an author of a scientific publication on hydrography (the science of mapping water). They ran fake news websites and published stories that included "claims about the West betraying Ukraine and Ukraine being a failed state," Meta said. 

The company said the network of fake accounts didn't have a wide reach. Fewer than 4,000 Facebook accounts followed one of more of these Pages and fewer than 500 accounts followed one or more of the Instagram accounts. 

The social media giant shared information about the operation with other tech platforms, researchers and governments.

Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok are being flooded with misinformation and disinformation, including misleading videos that use old footage to create a false image of what's happening in real-time. 

Meta said it's expanding its third-party fact checking capacity in Russia and Ukrainian, labeling state-controlled media publishers and barring ads from Russia state media. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, said it created a special operations center with experts who speak Ukrainian and Russian to help monitor its platform.

Russia has partly restricted access to Facebook after the social network refused to stop fact-checking and label content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. Russia's telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor alleges Facebook violated "fundamental human rights" by restricting the country's state-controlled media.

Gleicher said he doesn't have any more information about what restrictions Russia put into place but Meta's teams continue to monitor the situation and "do believe that we're still accessible in [the] country."

On Sunday, Meta said it restricted some accounts, including several run by Russia state media, because the Ukrainian government requested the company do so. The company is reviewing other government requests to do the same in their countries.

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