Facebook's stock dropped nearly 2 per cent after a 17-hour partial outage made the world's largest social network inaccessible to users across the globe.
DownDetector website - one of the internet's most used sources of numbers on outages - showed the number of complaints had peaked at more than 12,000, gradually falling to about 180 as of 11am EST on Thursday.
But by then Facebook's shares fell 1.72 per cent in morning trading on Thursday. And by 4pm, the shares dropped to 1.85 per cent.
Meanwhile, it's also believed that a New York Times report contributed to the drop in Facebook's shares.
On Wednesday, the Times reported that US federal prosecutors were conducting a criminal investigation into data deals Facebook struck with more than 150 technology companies such as Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc.
Facebook's stock dropped nearly 2 per cent (depicted above) after a 17-hour partial outage made the world's largest social network inaccessible to users across the globe
But by then Facebook's shares fell 1.72 per cent in morning trading on Thursday. And by 4pm, the shares dropped to 1.85 per cent (above)
The agreements let the companies see users' friends, contact information and other data, sometimes without consent.
Facebook claimed in June 2018 that it provided dozens of tech companies with special access to user data after publicly saying it restricted such access in 2015.
The Times reported that Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Sony, cut data sharing deals with the world’s dominant social media platform.
However, Facebook continued sharing information with 61 hardware and software makers after it said it discontinued the practice in May 2015.
A New York grand jury has subpoenaed records from two smartphone makers involved in the partnerships, anonymous sources told the newspaper.
A spokesman for the social network said the company was cooperating with investigators in multiple federal probes, without addressing the grand jury inquiry specifically.
'We've provided public testimony, answered questions and pledged that we will continue to do so,' the spokesman said.
Facebook has phased out most of the partnerships over the past two years.
Meanwhile, it's also believed that a New York Times report contributed to the drop in Facebook's shares. The Times reported that US federal prosecutors were conducting a criminal investigation into data deals Facebook struck with
