Facebook, Instagram Crash Worldwide, Social Media Giant 'Apologizes For Inconvenience'

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Facebook, along with its Instagram and What's App platforms, crashed Monday morning.

Users were unable to access those sites, starting around 11:45 a.m., Eastern Time.

Facebook et. al.  went to Twitter to confirm the outage.

As of 1 p.m., the sites were still down.

The reason for the outage, which has been reported worldwide, was not immediately known.

On Sunday, in her first interview, former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley about what she called "systemic" problems with the platform's ranking algorithm that led to the amplification of "angry content" and divisiveness. Evidence of that, she said, is in the company's own internal research. Security experts with Facebook told the New York Times that a hack was unlikely because the differences in technology behind the company's various apps.

Other security experts are looking at a problem with the company's Domain Name System (DNS) records, which apparently have disappeared. The DNS is essentially the internet's phone book, directing users to specific sites and platforms.

"Facebook's mission is to connect people all around the world," said Haugen. "When you have a system that you know can be hacked with anger, it's easier to provoke people into anger. And publishers are saying, 'Oh, if I do more angry, polarizing, divisive content, I get more money.' Facebook has set up a system of incentives that is pulling people apart."