Facebook Breaks The Web: Error With Widgets Causes Sites To Disappear

Tried to reach one of your favorite websites recently only to get a mysterious Facebook error showing up? It looks like Facebook widgets are to blame. We just had this happen to our sites, and there are widespread reports that other sites are having the same issue: Sites such as CNN, the Huffington Post and […]

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Facebook LogoTried to reach one of your favorite websites recently only to get a mysterious Facebook error showing up? It looks like Facebook widgets are to blame.

We just had this happen to our sites, and there are widespread reports that other sites are having the same issue:

(20) Twitter _ Search - facebook error

Sites such as CNN, the Huffington Post and Slate were just some of the many hit.

If you’re logged into Facebook, and you go to a site using Facebook Like or Share buttons, there’s a chance you’ll see this rather than the page you wanted:

Facebook Error

The solution is to log-out of Facebook. If you do that, you should be able to access the site you wanted.

If you’re a publisher, the solution is to disable your Facebook widgets, until the problem is solved. When will that be? We have a question out to Facebook and will let you know, when we hear.

Postscript: After about 15-20 minutes, this was fixed. Facebook also gave us this statement:

For a short period of time, there was a bug that redirected people from third party sites with Facebook Login to Facebook.com. The issue was quickly resolved.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Danny Sullivan
Contributor
Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, MarTech, and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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