FACT CHECK: Did Zuckerberg say Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp will shut down for 7 days?

A post which claimed Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Facebook, said his company’s flagship products will shutdown for seven days has surfaced online and gone viral.

In the viral post, Zuckerberg was said to have announced that the seven-day outage will affect Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger and was expected to commence by 1 pm on October 6.

The post surfaced online shortly after the Facebook-owned companies experienced a nearly six-hour outage on Monday, leaving millions of users worried across the world.

“Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger to shutdown again for 168 hours (7days) I apologize for the disruption. I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about. we will start our upgrade on Wednesday October 6th 2021 – 1300 hours,” the post read.

The post, alleged to be from Zuckerberg’s verified Facebook page, has continued to make the rounds on social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram with many users sharing it on their handles.

Moyo Lawal, Nigerian actress, also shared the post via her Instagram page where she has 1.8 million followers.

“See what I saw ooo,” the actress wrote alongside the viral post. Her post has garnered over 100 comments and 1,400 likes.

The viral post has also been shared on several blogs as we can see here and here.

But did Zuckerberg say such?

Checks by TheCable showed that the viral post was not authored by Zuckerberg as claimed.

Further checks revealed that the post was doctored as nothing of such was found on the official Facebook page of the entrepreneur where he provided updates about the recent development.

Hours after Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram returned following the outage, Zuckerberg had apologised for the disruption in services in a post.

“Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are coming back online now. Sorry for the disruption today — I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about,” he wrote via his Facebook page on Tuesday.

In a follow-up post, the Facebook CEO had described the development as “the worst outage we’ve had in years”, adding that efforts were ongoing to ensure such does not happen again.

He also dismissed criticisms of his company amid the recent outage, while alleging attempts to paint a “false picture” of the tech firm in some quarters.

“I’m sure many of you have found the recent coverage hard to read because it just doesn’t reflect the company we know. We care deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health,” he wrote.

“It’s difficult to see coverage that misrepresents our work and our motives. At the most basic level, I think most of us just don’t recognize the false picture of the company that is being painted.”

VERDICT:

The viral post that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp will shutdown for seven days is false. The post was not authored by Zuckerberg as claimed.