Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp coming back online after hours of disruption
Washington(PTI): Services of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are coming back online after several hours of disruption that impacted millions of people worldwide.
While the users of the three social media platforms remained clueless as they repeatedly received error messages for most part of the day, the stocks of Silicon Valley firm Facebook dropped by nearly five per cent as a result.
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, which owns photo sharing app Instagram and messaging platform WhatsApp, said on Twitter.
Mike Schroepfer, chief technology officer of Facebook, said on Twitter: Sincere apologies to everyone impacted by outages of Facebook powered services right now. We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible.
Facebook services are coming back online now (It) may take some time to get to 100 per cent. To every small and large business, family, and individual who depends on us, I'm sorry, Schroepfer said in another tweet.
Earlier in the day, Facebook had said: We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologise for any inconvenience.
WhatsApp and Instagram too had taken to Twitter to inform their users about the outage.
We're aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We're working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience! said the messaging app which more than two billion active users in the tweet.
Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we're on it! the photo sharing app had tweeted.
The outage of the three popular social media platforms comes a day before one of its whistleblowers was all set to testify before a Congressional committee.
It was highly unusual to have so many apps go dark from the world's largest social media company at the same time. More than 3.5 billion people use Facebook and its apps to communicate with one another and conduct business, The New York Times wrote.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the outage also caused widespread disruptions to Facebook's internal communication tools, including some voice calls and work apps used for calendar appointments and other functions, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company told employees on Monday morning that the cause of the outage was unknown and some staff were using Zoom to remain connected.
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AI to operate new Dreamliner with limitations; awaits certain FAA approvals
New Delhi (PTI): Air India will operate its new Boeing 787-9 aircraft with certain limitations as the Tata Group-owned airline is awaiting approvals from the US watchdog FAA for the sliding privacy doors in the plane's business class suites and for 18 economy class seats, sources said on Friday.
The aircraft, also the first custom-made Dreamliner to join the Air India fleet after takeover by the Tata Group in January 2022, will enter commercial operations on the Mumbai-Frankfurt route from February 1.
The plane has 296 seats, comprising 30 business class, 28 premium economy and 238 economy class seats. Out of them, 18 economy class seats will not be available for use till the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) give its approval, the sources told PTI.
In a statement to PTI, an airline spokesperson said the new B787-9 will enter commercial operations on February 1 with certain limitations.
"The sliding privacy doors in our business class suites will remain securely fixed in the open position and unavailable for passenger use, as this specific seat feature awaits regulatory approval. We expect to receive the necessary approval in the near future. All other seat features are available for passenger use," the spokesperson said.
Separately, a total of 18 specific economy class seats are blocked from sale and are also physically blocked from use.
"The seat product itself (RECARO 3710) is fully certified and in regular operation on many airlines worldwide; however, there is a regulatory interpretation affecting the 18 specific seats that we are working with the manufacturer and regulator to resolve.
"The 18 specific seats will only be offered for sale once full certification is received," the spokesperson said.
When contacted over e-mail, an FAA spokesperson told PTI, "We don't comment on ongoing certification work".
There was no comment from Boeing.
In 2026, five more wide-body aircraft -- three Boeing 787-9s and 2 A350-1000s -- are set to join the Air India fleet. The airline, currently, has 188 planes, and the legacy Boeing 787s are undergoing retrofit progressively.
According to the spokesperson, the product limitations due to pending certification apply only to the new B787-9 aircraft, and not to the retrofitted B787-8 planes.
These are two different variants, and their interior fitout undergoes a separate certification process. The certifications for seats and features on the B787-8 are complete and have been approved by relevant regulators and will be available for customer use, the spokesperson added.
The sources also said that some global airlines are awaiting certain regulatory approvals for their business class seats. These include Lufthansa, which is awaiting regulatory certification nod for some of the business class seats in their new Boeing 787-9 aircraft, they added.
At present, Air India has 33 Boeing 787s -- 26 legacy Boeing 787-8s and 7 Boeing 787-9s, including 6 from Vistara and the new one.
In 2025, Boeing delivered 14 Boeing 787s to various airlines, including 12 Boeing 787-9s.
