Under Construction

Published in El País
(Colombia) on 4 October 2021
by Editorial (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Jane Vogel. Edited by Gillian Palmer.
Two billion WhatsApp users affected and 100 billion messages that could not be sent, 175 million of those messages belonging to business accounts, are some of the results of the outage at WhatsApp, the largest virtual messaging system.

In addition, 2.74 billion people lost access to Facebook and another 1.22 billion people lost access to Instagram, two of the most utilized social networks in the world.

This stoppage of the three applications owned by Facebook, Inc., created by Mark Zuckerberg, demonstrates that, in spite of technological development of unimaginable proportions, its function is still vulnerable to errors that produce serious consequences, like the confusion that happened yesterday in world communications.

Social media has changed life for humanity and and plays an ever more fundamental role in globalization, but at the same time this has meant dependence. A glitch can have major impact on activities on the planet.

Although there are other platforms on the internet that fulfill a similar function to the three disrupted applications, it is still worrisome that technology, which has offered so many solutions and generated dramatic changes, is still vulnerable to risks that can paralyze communication.

Yesterday’s crisis demonstrates that the digital world is a marvel that is not yet done with being invented.


Dos mil millones de usuarios de WhatsApp afectados y cien mil millones de mensajes que no se pudieron enviar, de los cuales 175 millones corresponden a cuentas empresariales, son algunos de los efectos de la caída de WhatsApp, el mayor sistema de mensajería virtual.

Además, 2740 millones de personas se quedaron sin acceso a Facebook y otros 1220 millones a Instagram, dos de las redes sociales que más consumidores mueven en el mundo.

Ese infarto en las tres aplicaciones propiedad de Facebook Inc., del creador Mark Zuckerberg, demuestra que aunque se ha producido un desarrollo tecnológico de proporciones inimaginables, su funcionamiento está aún expuesto a fallas que producen graves consecuencias, como el desconcierto que se generó ayer en las comunicaciones mundiales.

Las redes sociales han cambiado la vida de la humanidad y tienen un papel cada vez más protagónico en la globalización, pero al mismo tiempo han significado una dependencia que un fallo puede afectar de manera importante las actividades en el planeta.

Si bien existen otras plataformas en internet que cumplen una función similar a las tres aplicaciones infartadas, no deja de ser preocupante que la tecnología, que ha ofrecido tantas soluciones y generado cambios dramáticos, sigue expuesta a riesgos que pueden paralizar la comunicación.

La crisis de ayer demuestra que el mundo digital es un maravilla que no se ha acabado de inventar.

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