Facebook Crashes for Six Hours

The other problem with monopolies is that they have zero incentive to be efficient or even work at all.

RT:

A massive internet crash that took out Facebook’s services, including Instagram and WhatsApp, shows that countries need to be less reliant on American tech giants and bolster their own domestic infrastructure, Moscow has said.

Speaking as part of a YouTube livestream on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the fault that shut down three of the world’s biggest social media platforms for six hours the day before highlights the failures of the California-based Facebook conglomerate and the need for Russia’s own sovereign internet capabilities.

“We must understand that such a blackout can happen at any second, based on the processes that are now gaining momentum in the US,” Zakharova said. “Yesterday they showed you everything. We aren’t cutting ourselves off, but their technologies are failing to such a degree that three and a half billion people were cut off.”

Following the outage, Zakharova said that faults and shutoffs are not just about losing communication, but can lead to some losing crucial business. “We are not just talking about the displeasure of the cats, whose owners did not publish their fantastic photos,” she said. “This is a matter of business, and not only of the business of large companies, but of the business of people who trade through these social networks, take orders there and provide services.”

Hopefully Zakharova is serious.

There’s a first time for everything.

Honestly, as much as I would like to say that the conflict between the Democrats and Russia should be settled by a mud-wrestling contest between Maria Zakharova and Jen Psaki, I’m really just not sure Psaki wouldn’t completely dominate.