After an internal technical problem, the billionaire apologized and took Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Instagram offline at 16:00 GMT Monday.
It was finally brought back online at 22:00.
It is possible that it will increase scrutiny of the reach of social media giants.
Potentially billions of people were without their social media tools for hours. Others reported that they couldn’t access certain services which required login to Facebook.
Businesses around the globe that use social media to communicate with customers were facing an unexpected financial hit.
According to Fortune’s tracking software, Mr. Zuckerberg was believed to have lost $6bn (PS4.4bn), from his personal fortune when Facebook shares fell.
Downdetector, which monitors outages around the globe, reported 10.6 million problems – the highest number it has ever recorded.
Facebook later claimed that it was brought offline due to a configuration error. This not only affected the apps and websites but also the company’s internal tools.
These tools include Facebook’s email system and employee work passes.
According to some reports, Facebook headquarters was experiencing a “meltdown”. Sheera Frenkel, a New York Times technology reporter, said that even “the people trying out to figure this problem were” unable to access the building.
According to the New York Times, the problem was finally resolved when a group of hackers managed to gain access into a California data center and reset the servers. This has not been confirmed by the company.
Facebook stated that it is investigating the incident to “make our infrastructure stronger”. According to tech experts, the issue is similar to Facebook’s disappearance from the internet map.
According to the company, there is no evidence that user data has been compromised.
This outage occurs at an especially difficult time for the company. It is increasingly under pressure about its impact on society and reach.
Frances Haugen, a former employee of Facebook, told CBS News that the company prioritised growth over safety on Sunday.
In a hearing entitled “Protecting Kids Online”, she will testify before a Senate subcommittee about Instagram’s impact on mental health among young users.
