The year 2024 was marked by significant disruptions in technology services that have reached millions of users around the worldwith a notable impact in Europe and particularly relevant for Spanish users. According to an analysis carried out by Downdetector, social media platforms were the main protagonists of these cuts on the European continent.
Facebook tops the list of interruptions
On March 5, 2024, Facebook experienced its biggest outage of the year, and it It reached more than 3.4 million European users. This fall not only affected the main social network, but also led to the fall of Instagram, causing a massive disruption in the digital communication of Spanish users and the rest of Europe.
WhatsApp, second biggest interruption
WhatsApp, the most popular instant messaging application in Spain, suffered the second largest outage in Europe. At the beginning of April, more than 1.1 million people reported service issues during a power outage that lasted approximately two hours. This incident highlighted the dependence of Spanish users on digital communication platforms.
Although on a smaller scale, the problems were not limited to global social media. Two important German companies, 1&1 and Deutsche Telekom experienced significant disruptions at the end of May, with over 218,000 and 209,000 user reports respectively. These incidents are a reminder that even the most established Internet service providers can face technical difficulties.
How it affects Spanish users
These disruptions highlight the vulnerability of our digital infrastructure and the need to have contingency plans. For Spanish users, who are among the most active on social networks in Europe, these deletions represent a significant disruption in their daily activities, both personal and professional.
Downdetector analysis of the biggest outages of 2024 shows that society’s growing dependence on digital platforms and social networks in Europe. For Spanish users and companies operating in the country, this data highlights the importance of diversifying communication channels and preparing for possible outages of the most used services.
Technology continues to advance, but these incidents remind us that even tech giants They are not without flaws which in many cases represents a real headache, given the absolute dependence on these resources. Digital resilience is emerging as an increasingly important skill in our highly connected world.
