The world went “crazy” for a bit last night (February 5) when social media – Facebook and Instagram were inaccessible for an hour, and for some, longer than that.
The fear of being hacked struck immediately but in case you are not aware, NO, YOU’RE NOT HACKED and most users today already have access to their social media as of midnight. Malaysians were not the only ones affected. The disturbance happened globally with many users across Europe and Asia affected.
Okay. Since hacking is out of the picture, what could’ve caused the global disturbance? Was Meta punishing us for having too much screen time?
Undersea communication cables cut off
According to BBC, 15 important communication cables under the Red Sea were damaged and cut, subsequently (and gradually) affecting 25% of data flow.
“Some 80% of the west-bound traffic from Asia passed through the cables,” Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications said.
HGC took immediate steps to divert the affected data flow to Europe via a cable in China and an undersea cable in the Pacific Ocean to the United States.
Planned, or accident?
Last week, it was reported that the same 4 cables running between the Saudi city of Jeddah and Djibouti had been damaged. The Houthis (Iran-aligned group based in Yemen) were blamed but no clear evidence has proven them to be the mastermind behind the sabotage of the undersea cables.
The Houthis, who control a major part of the Red Sea have since denied their involvement in the damage of the cables.
At the time of writing (February 6), an official from the Pentagon in the United States of America confirmed that the cause behind the damage is still being investigated.
“We’re still identifying if the cables were deliberate severed or snagged by a ship’s anchor.”
On the bright side, it didn’t take that long for users around the world to regain access to their social media accounts. Here are some screenshots from the Facebook page of GSC Cinemas, which “celebrated” the return of social Facebook and Instagram.
Were you affected last night? Did you think you were hacked and were you prepared for the worst?
Also read: “Be supportive!” – M’sian Tells Everyone Not to Criticise Others Who Show Happiness on Social Media
