Is Facebook Down In South Africa Today?

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Is Facebook Down In South Africa Today?

What Is Facebook?

The American business Meta Platforms is the owner of the social networking and social media website Facebook. The name of the social networking site, which was established in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and fellow Harvard College students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, is derived from the Face Book directories that are frequently distributed to students at American universities. Initially open only to Harvard students, membership has now grown to include students from other North American universities and, as of 2006, anybody over the age of 13. Facebook reported 2.93 billion monthly active users as of July 2022 and was the third-most popular website globally. The 2010s’ most popular mobile app was this one.

Accessing Facebook

Devices with Internet connectivity, such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones, can access Facebook. Users can establish a profile after registering that contains information about them. They can exchange text, pictures, and other types of media with other users who have accepted to be their “friends” or, depending on the privacy settings, with the general public. Additionally, users have access to Facebook Messenger for direct communication with one another, community groups, and updates on the activities of their Facebook friends and the pages they follow.

Controversies Surrounding Facebook

Facebook, the focus of multiple controversies, has frequently come under fire for problems with mass surveillance, political meddling, and user privacy (as with the Cambridge Analytica data scandal). Currently, some of the most widely shared political content on Facebook comes from posts published on the Facebook page of Breitbart News, a news outlet formerly connected to Cambridge Analytica. Facebook has also been under fire for psychological consequences like addiction and low self-esteem and for several content-related issues such as fake news, conspiracy theories, copyright violations, and hate speech. Commentators have accused Facebook of knowingly aiding the spread of such content and inflating its user base to attract advertisers.

Policy On Privacy

The data policy of Facebook describes its guidelines for gathering, storing, and disclosing user data. Users can limit who can view specific posts and their profiles through Facebook’s privacy settings. The user’s name and profile image (if any) are both seen by everyone. Targeted advertising, which entails examining user data to determine which adverts to present to each user, is Facebook’s primary income source. Facebook purchases data from third parties obtained from online and offline sources to enhance its user data. Facebook asserts that it does not provide marketers with the data used for targeted advertising.

Facebook In South Africa

With nearly 29 million South African users, roughly half our population, Facebook continues to be our country’s most popular social media network. Businesses and marketers have the ideal opportunity to promote to them on Facebook and other social media marketing platforms without the target audience feeling like they are being advertised.
People read fantastic stories or interesting material instead of advertisements. They won’t ever feel like they are being sold to, even if the content is an advertisement. You can upload various stuff on Facebook, including blogs, videos, photographs, and instant experiences.