His Pete “Maverick” Mitchell may have bested Russian fliers in Top Gun, but the Russians have beaten Tom Cruise to space.
Cruise was gearing up to with work with NASA and SpaceX genius Elon Musk for what would have been the first narrative feature film actually shot in space.
However, as you read this, Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, along with star Yulia Peresild and her director Kim Shipenko, have likely already docked their Soyuz capsule with the International Space Station on a mission to shoot a movie there. The feature, The Challenge, is about a mission to send a doctor into space to save the life of a cosmonaut.
Cruise can still take comfort in the fact that he’ll be the first narrative Hollywood film to shoot in space, however. The hush-hush project was endorsed by former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstein, who said last year that such an effort could “inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @NASA’s ambitious plans a reality.”
Incidentally, ABC News is reporting that the capsule that brought the Russian crew to the ISS was originally scheduled to take NASA astronaut Mark T. Vande Hei and cosmonaut Peter Dubrov back to Earth later this month. The movie mission will delay Vande Hei‘s return until next March, which means when he returns he’ll have broken astronaut Scott Kelly‘s spaceflight record by eleven days.
(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
More than 703,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 65.5% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Oct 05, 8:50 am
J&J submits booster request to FDA
Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday submitted its request to the FDA for a booster shot for J&J recipients.
The submission includes data showing that a booster increased protection to 94% against moderate to severe/critical disease in the U.S. (Peak efficacy from one shot is 72% in the U.S.)
The FDA’s independent advisory committee is holding a public hearing on J&J boosters on Oct. 15. The FDA may authorize J&J boosters after Oct. 15 and the CDC’s recommendation could follow.
Oct 05, 8:15 am
Francis Collins to step down as director of the National Institutes of Health
NIH Director Francis Collins announced that he’s stepping down, saying in a statement that no person should serve for too long and it’s time to give space for the next generation of scientists to lead.
He was in the role for 12 years.
Oct 04, 7:56 pm
Pentagon mandates vaccines for civilian employees
The Pentagon announced Monday that all of its civilian employees must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 22.
“Vaccinating (department) civilian employees against COVID-19 will save lives and allow for the defense of our nation,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks wrote in a memo sent out to Pentagon leadership Monday. “Thank you for your focus on this critical mission.”
There is already a vaccine mandate for military members, but each branch of service has its own deadline.
Oct 04, 6:02 pm
Newly approved rapid test will double US capacity, FDA says
The Food and Drug Administration approved a new rapid test Monday that it said will double the at-home testing capacity in the U.S. over the next few weeks.
The the ACON Laboratories Flowflex COVID-19 Home Test will ideally assuage the shortage of over-the-counter, at-home rapid testing that has gone on since schools and other businesses have returned to in-person work.
“By year’s end, the manufacturer plans to produce more than 100 million tests per month, and this number will rise to 200 million per month by February 2022,” the FDA said in a press release Monday.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) David Letterman and others paid tribute to Alan Kalter, the former Late Show announcer who died Monday at age 78.
“When our announcer of 15 years Bill Wendell retired, producer Robert Morton came to my office with an audio tape containing auditions for several announcers,” Letterman told the New York Daily News via email. “Alan’s was the first and only voice we listened to. We knew he would be our choice.”
In addition to being the show’s announcer, Kalter was the star of numerous madcap sketches on the show, which included fake tirades against his talk show host boss.
Former How I Met Your Mother co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were writers on Late Show, and were among those who penned sketches featuring the flame-haired announcer. Bays tweeted, “Alan Kalter RIP,” adding, “To us Late Show writers Alan was so much more than just the ‘From New York…’ guy. He was our muse. We loved writing for him. Such a cheerful presence on the show. And around the office. Rest easy Big Red.”
Thomas noted, “Oh man, @CarterBays and I loved writing for Alan — some of my fondest memories of Late Show are the absolutely batsh**-bonkers bits we wrote for Alan, who was always game to let us make him look insane…rest in peace, Alan, and thanks for the laughs…”
Bill Scheft, another Late Show alum, posted one of Kalter’s bits, adding, “RIP Alan Kalter. A lovely man, and as my old boss might say, a ‘perfect stooge….’
Kalter died Monday at Connecticut’s Stamford Hospital, his wife Peggy told The Hollywood Reporter. No cause of death was given.
Alan Kalter RIP. Between him and Tony Mendez it’s a heartbreaking time. To us Late Show writers Alan was so much more than just the “From New York…” guy. He was our muse. We loved writing for him. Such a cheerful presence on the show. And around the office. Rest easy Big Red. pic.twitter.com/xjPY906VlJ
Oh man, @CarterBays and I loved writing for Alan — some of my fondest memories of Late Show are the absolutely batshit-bonkers bits we wrote for Alan, who was always game to let us make him look insane…rest in peace, Alan, and thanks for the laughs…https://t.co/5RUfMGmryS
Dancing with the Stars fans were left begging “Gimme More” on Monday, when the night saluted Britney Spears‘ illustrious career. While the competitors were not “Intimidated” by having to push themselves on the ballroom floor, Christine Chiu‘s dreams of winning the Mirrorball Trophy broke like “Shattered Glass.”
For the second week in a row, the audience voted Chiu into the bottom two, where the judges had to choose between saving her or Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kenya Moore. The panel chose to spare the latter.
Also on Monday night, three members of the DWTS cast were absent on the ballroom floor — pro dancer Cheryl Burke, Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby and judge Derek Hough. Burke and Rigsby both tested positive for COVID-19 last week, despite being fully vaccinated, and Hough sat out the night out of “an abundance of caution,” as announced by host Tyra Banks.
Despite being unable to perform before the audience, Rigsby and Burke were beamed in virtually and performed their jazz routine to Britney’s “Gimme More” on split screens. Unfortunately, the two ended the night at the bottom of the pack with an overall score of 18 out of 30 — but the audience decided to give the two another chance and sent them through to next week’s show.
Meanwhile, three competitors tied for first place on Monday, a season first, with Amanda Kloots, JoJo Siwa and Olivia Jade collecting three straight eights for an overall score of 24 out of 30.
Kloots dazzled with her cha cha to Spears’ “Circus,” but judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli all agreed that the Talk co-host needed to take more risks on the floor. While the judges praised Kloots for her technical skills, saying she delivered a clean and solid routine, they felt her dance was too safe.
As for Siwa, the Nickelodeon star wowed the audience by lifting partner Jenna Johnson three separate times during their fresh and powerful Argentine tango to Britney’s “Baby One More Time.” The complicated routine earned high praise from the three judges, but Siwa was held back by a missed step in the middle of her dance.
As for birthday girl Olivia Jade, who just turned 22, the three judges lauded the influencer’s flowing tango to “Hold It Against Me,” dubbing it the “best performance of the night.”
The judges also took note of two competitors who pushed themselves on the ballroom floor, praising Bachelor star MattJames and WWE star Michael “The Miz” Gregory for coming out of their shells and paying attention to the finer details of their routines.
Another standout was country singer Jimmie Allen, who dedicated his salsa to Britney’s “Outrageous” to wife Alexis Gale. Allen also joked that he “did not plan to cry on this show two weeks in a row” by talking about the powerful women who made a difference in his life.
Dancing with the Stars returns Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, when the cast and crew will celebrate all things Disney. Also, as an added twist, Mickey Mouse himself crashed Monday’s broadcast to show the competitors the special “Mickey Moves” they must include in their routine, no matter what dance they are supposed to perform.
Here are the current standings:
Amanda Kloots, The Talk co-host, with Alan Bersten — 24/30
JoJo Siwa, Nickelodeon star, with Jenna Johnson — 24/30
Olivia Jade, influencer, with Val Chmerkovskiy — 24/30 Melora Hardin,The Office actress, with Artem Chivensky — 23/30
Michael “The Miz” Gregory, WWE superstar, Witney Carson — 22/30 Melanie C,Spice Girl, with Gleb Savchenko — 22/30 Suni Lee, Olympic Gold medalist, with Sasha Farber — 21/30
Kenya Moore, former Miss USA, with Brandon Armstrong — 21/30 Matt James, former Bachelor, with Lindsey Arnold — 20/30
Jimmie Allen, country music singer, with Emma Slater — 20/30 Brian Austin Green, Beverly Hills, 90210 alum, with Sharna Burgess — 19/30 Iman Shumpert, NBA player, with Daniella Karagach — 19/30
Cody Rigsby, Peloton instructor, with Cheryl Burke — 18/30
(NORTH PORT, Fla.) — Cassie Laundrie said she has a message for her missing brother, who has been the center of a nationwide manhunt after the body of his girlfriend, Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito, was found in Wyoming last month.
“I would tell my brother to just come forward and get us out of this horrible mess,” Cassie Laundrie told ABC News in an interview that aired Tuesday on Good Morning America.
Brian Laundrie, 23, and Petito, 22, were traveling across the country this summer in Petito’s white 2012 Ford Transit and were documenting their road trip on social media. On Sept. 1, Brian Laundrie returned to his parent’s home in North Port, Florida, by himself in Petito’s van, according to authorities. Petito was reported missing on Sept. 11 by her family in Long Island, New York, authorities said.
Cassie Laundrie, who lives in Florida with her husband and two sons, told ABC News that her brother and parents stopped by for an “ordinary” visit the day he returned.
“I really wish he had come to me first that day with the van,” she said, “because I don’t think we’d be here.”
Brian Laundrie was subsequently named a “person of interest” in Petito’s disappearance. He has refused to speak to investigators and has not been seen since Sept. 14, authorities said.
On Sept. 16, the Moab City Police Department in Utah released body-camera footage of their officers’ interaction with Brian Laundrie and Petito after pulling them over in Petito’s van on Aug. 12. The officers were responding to a 911 call that reported an incident between the couple, in which the caller claimed he witnessed Laundrie allegedly “slapping” Petito and chasing her up and down a sidewalk, hitting her.
The officers wrote in a report that Laundrie and Petito admitted to arguing and that Petito had slapped Laundrie. The couple also told the officers that Laundrie did not hit Petito, according to the report.
After speaking to Petito and Laundrie separately, the officers allowed the couple to continue on their way but ordered them to spend the night apart. No charges were filed.
Cassie Laundrie told ABC News that it was “pretty typical of them to argue and try and take space from each other.” But she said she never witnessed any signs of domestic violence.
On Sept. 19, the Teton County Coroner’s Office in Wyoming announced that a body was recovered in the Bridger-Teton National Park. Two days later, the coroner confirmed the remains were that of Petito and that an initial determination showed she had died as a result of homicide. A federal arrest warrant was later issued for Brian Laundrie in Wyoming, pursuant to a federal grand jury indictment related to his “activities” following Petito’s death, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The twist and turns of the case have grabbed national attention, as the search for Brian Laundrie continues.
Cassie Laundrie told ABC News that she does not know where her brother is and if she did, she would “turn him in.” She said the last time she saw or heard from him was on Sept. 6, when their family went to Fort De Soto Park in Florida’s Pinellas County.
“We just went for a couple of hours and we ate dinner and had s’mores around the campfire and left, and there was nothing peculiar about it,” she said. “There was no feeling of grand goodbye. There was no nothing.”
“I’m frustrated that, in hindsight, I didn’t pick up on anything,” she added. “It was jut a regular visit.”
She said it’s unusual for her brother to disappear for this long.
“I hope he’s OK, and then I’m angry and I don’t know what to think,” she said. “I hope my brother is alive because I want answers just as much as everybody else.”
She said she has been cooperating with authorities “since day one,” and she called on her parents to do the same.
“I don’t know if my parents are involved,” she said. “I think if they are, then they should come clean.”
While she remains concerned for her brother, Cassie Laundrie said she is also mourning for Petito and wants the Petito family to know that her heart is with them.
A month after renaming its fine arts college after Chadwick Boseman, Howard University on Monday announced the launch of a $5.4 million scholarship in the name of one of its most famous alumni.
The Chadwick A. Boseman Memorial Scholarship, established with the support of Boseman’s wife, Simone Ledward-Boseman, and sponsorship from Netflix as the inaugural donor, kicks off this fall with one recipient in each class. The scholarship will continue to be distributed to an incoming freshman each year.
The scholarship will focus on “students who exemplify exceptional skills in the arts, reminiscent of Boseman, and who demonstrate financial need,” according to the university.
“This scholarship embodies Chadwick’s love for Howard, his passion for storytelling and his willingness to support future generations of Howard students,” Howard president Wayne A.I. Frederick said in a statement. “I am thankful for the continuous support and partnership of Chadwick’s wife, Mrs. Simone Ledward-Boseman, and to Netflix for this important gift.”
Boseman, who died in August 2020 at age 43 after a private four-year battle with colon cancer, studied directing and earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in 2000. His film credits include Black Panther, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Da 5 Bloods, Marshall, Get On Up and 42.
(OAKWOOD, Texas) — As voters across Texas submitted voter registration applications on Monday, Oct. 4, ahead of the Nov. 2 statewide election, 82-year-old Elmira Hicks was left out.
The Oakwood, Texas, native hasn’t been able to renew her voting license for more than a year because she has been unable to present the required birth certificate needed to verify her identity.
In the Lone Star State, election laws require voters to present a driver’s license, passport, military identification card, citizenship certificate, state election identification certificate or a personal identification card to cast a ballot or register to vote.
Hicks does not have a passport and without her driver’s license or the other approved documents, she said she will face obstacles that will make it difficult for her to participate in state and federal elections as a rural resident with limited transportation.
“My ability to get a license is completely impossible. They’ve completely shut me down,” Hicks told ABC News. “I can’t vote without proper identification. My voice does not count. It’s very important. People have died just to vote, people have stood in line, in the rain, women fought to vote and now I can’t vote,” Hicks added.
Like many Black elders in the South, Hicks was born with the help of a midwife, at a time when records weren’t kept. She never had a birth certificate. Her daughter, Jonita White, has helped her apply for one. The pair battled in court over the issue. A judge even ruled in their favor. Still, they said the Office of Vital Statistics has rejected Hicks on a technicality.
“I do feel like the laws right now are targeting my mother and other African Americans in this country,” White said.
Eight constitutional amendments ranging from taxes to judicial eligibility will be up for a vote on Nov. 2, an election Hicks will not be able to participate in.
Advocates warn that potentially thousands of predominantly minority voters could be disenfranchised due to voter identification requirements, which could have a large implications during next year’s midterm elections for state and congressional races.
“It’s often very common for people of a certain age not to have a birth certificate. I want to emphasize it’s not as uncommon as people might believe,” said Franita Tolson, the vice dean for faculty and academic affairs and a professor of law at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
“In this country, race correlates to a lot of different characteristics. So, for example, if you take voter identification laws … people of color, so African Americans, Latinos, will be less likely to have the underlying documents that you need in order to get the ID in the first place in order to get a driver’s license,” Tolson continued.
Texas recently passed the Election Integrity Protection Act, one of the most restrictive voting laws in the country. It bans drive-thru voting, enlists new regulations for early voting and enacts new ID requirements for mail-in voting.
While Tolson does not believe all voter identification requirements are discriminatory, she called Texas’ voter ID measures “racist” during a Congressional Subcommittee hearing, because she believes they disproportionately impact voters of color.
“Texas has a very restrictive voter ID law,” Tolson said. “If you read it, it doesn’t seem racist on its face, but if you think about how it operates in practice, as well as the intent behind it, it is fairly racist. For example, Texas’ law only allows voters to have a certain limited amount of IDs. You have to have a driver’s license, you can have a hand handgun license, you can have a military ID, but you can’t have a federal ID, or you can’t have a student ID, which are the types of IDs that people of color are more likely to have.”
Rep. Steve Toth R-Texas, vehemently disagreed with Tolson’s claim that the state’s election laws are discriminatory, telling ABC News that the latest legislation makes it easier for people to vote and harder to commit fraud.
“We expanded the number of hours for people to vote, we expanded the number of days so people could vote. We added criminal penalties to people that want to shut voting locations down early or open late. We made sure that employers had to allow people to leave early to vote,” Toth said, calling Tolson’s charge offensive.
Nationally, there is bipartisan support for voter identification requirements among the majority of Americans, and 62% of Democrats support photo ID requirements, along with 87% of Independents and 91% of Republicans, according to a Monmouth poll.
Toth told ABC News that voters like Hicks have recourse.
“If they can’t get a driver’s license, go to DPS {Department of Public Safety], with a social security card, or some other ID, and to get an ID [election identification card] so that you can vote. It’s free,” Toth said, acknowledging that most people vote using their driver’s license.
White said obtaining an election identification is not so easy for an 82-year-old woman who lives in a rural area without the convenient ability to drive herself to the Department of Public Safety.
“My challenge is it’s taking so long to get this done,” White said. “And to send my mother through all of these hoops at this age to go get documents notarized, to go get her Social Security application, We’re having to look for high school records and baptism information…To send her through such a process, it is really is ridiculous.”
(NEW YORK) — Someone is taking home a big pot of cash.
One person in California bought the ticket that matched all six numbers drawn Monday night to win the Powerball jackpot worth $699.8 million. It is the fifth largest in Powerball history and the seventh largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history, Powerball said in a statement early Tuesday morning.
“Due to final ticket sales, the jackpot climbed beyond earlier estimates to a staggering $699.8 million at the time of the drawing with a cash option of $496 million,” they said. “The winning numbers in the Monday, Oct. 4 drawing were white balls 12, 22, 54, 66, and 69. The Powerball number was 15.”
The person — whose identity was not released — bought the winning ticket at Albertsons grocery store in Morro Bay, near San Luis Obispo.
The jackpot was last hit on June 5, and since then there have been 40 consecutive drawings without a Grand Prize winner, a new record for the Powerball jackpot, according to officials.
The lottery is available in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In August, it went from two drawings a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, to three drawings a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
This was the first Powerball jackpot won on a Monday night since the game launched a third weekly drawing on Aug. 23.
“The lucky ticket holder will have the choice between an estimated annuity of $699.8 million, paid in 30 graduated payments over 29 years, or a lump sum payment of $496 million. Both prize options are prior to taxes,” Powerball said. “Participating lotteries are reminding players to check their tickets for one of the nine ways to win. In Monday’s drawing alone, more than 2.2 million tickets won prizes ranging from $4 to $2 million.”
On Monday, five tickets matched all five white balls but missed the red Powerball to win a $1 million prize. The $1 million-winning tickets were sold in Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts and Virginia. A ticket sold in Tennessee matched all five white balls and doubled the prize to $2 million, because it included the Power Play feature for an additional $1, the company said.
Monday’s Powerball drawing was the 41st drawing in the jackpot run: a record for the number of consecutive drawings without a Grand Prize winner.
Even though there hadn’t been a jackpot winner in months, several Powerball players have earned smaller cash prizes.
“In Saturday’s drawing alone, more than 2.8 million tickets won prizes ranging from $4 to $1 million,” Powerball officials said in a news release.
The largest Powerball jackpot prize money was $1.586 billion in 2016, which was shared by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee, officials said.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball officials.
Jameson Rodgers is in quite a good mood this week, as he tops the chart with “Cold Beer Calling My Name,” featuring his pal Luke Combs.
“It just means a lot that I can help Luke get off the ground as an artist,” Jameson jokes. “He’s struggling, especially financially. You know, it’s good to help his bank account out a little more.”
“No, I’m just kidding…” he clarifies. “This would not be the same without Luke on it. Obviously, he’s the biggest artist in the format.”
Not only are the two label mates, Luke’s taken Jameson out on tour multiple times — and even famously got him drunk onstage once as an end-of-tour prank. But even Jameson can’t believe how Luke’s career has grown.
“When I asked him to jump on this thing and when he sang on it, this was in 2018…” Jameson recalls. “He was a star then, but I mean, he wasn’t like [an] Entertainer-of-the-Year star yet, you know what I mean? So it’s just been cool seeing his rocket to the stars over the last three years.”
Jameson’s also a little in disbelief that this is his second consecutive #1, after “Some Girls” topped the chart in late October of last year.
“It’s just weird thinking that I have two number ones as an artist,” the Mississippi native admits. “I can remember a time not so long ago when it seemed like having ONE as an artist seemed like a million miles away.”
“And so the stars have been aligning for me over the last few years,” he reflects, “and [I’m] just super blessed. [I’m] trying not to mess it all up, you know?”
Jameson’s already celebrated another major milestone this fall, tying the knot with his wife Sarah in early September.
(MENLO PARK, Calif.) — Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are back.
The apps, owned by Facebook, stopped working Monday for millions of users across the U.S., according to outage site Down Detector.
Both the mobile and web browser editions of the apps were not working as of 11:42 a.m. ET, the site reported.
They were down for more than six hours.
“To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: we’re sorry. We’ve been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us,” Facebook said Monday evening, once the apps began working again.
Later on Monday, the company explained why the outage occurred.
“Our engineering teams have learned that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers caused issues that interrupted this communication. This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt,” Facebook said in a statement.
Despite the many theories that have been circling the internet since the outage, Facebook said it has no evidence that any user data was compromised during the disruption.
“Our services are now back online and we’re actively working to fully return them to regular operations. We want to make clear at this time we believe the root cause of this outage was a faulty configuration change. We also have no evidence that user data was compromised as a result of this downtime,” they said.
On Monday afternoon, when the outage was first reported, a Facebook company spokesperson told ABC News, “We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.”
The company added that it was experiencing “networking issues” and gave no timeline for a fix.
“Sincere apologies to everyone impacted by outages of Facebook-powered services right now,” Facebook said at the time. “We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible”
The Instagram and Facebook outages come shortly after a whistleblower came forward and claimed to CBS News that the company could do more to protect against hate speech and misinformation but prioritizes profits over its users.
Following the Sunday “60 Minutes” interview with the whistleblower, identified as Frances Haugen, a data scientist, the company put out a statement defending itself.
“We’ve invested heavily in people and technology to keep our platform safe, and have made fighting misinformation and providing authoritative information a priority,” the company said in a statement. “If any research had identified an exact solution to these complex challenges, the tech industry, governments, and society would have solved them a long time ago.”
After the whistleblower’s identity was made public, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., announced the Senate will hold a hearing in the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Tuesday to hear from Haugen about Facebook and Instagram’s impacts on young users.
Facebook’s stock took a severe hit Monday following the whistleblower’s revelations and the outage, recording its worst day of the year. At closing, the stock was trading at $326.23 a share, down 16.78 points or 4.89%.
The situation promoted other social media sites to make some fun jokes.
Twitter’s official account tweeted, “Hello literally everyone,” Monday afternoon.
The tweet prompted several funny replies from other major accounts, including McDonald’s, Burger King, and Starbucks, which tweeted, “Perfect time for a coffee break.”
Twitter users later on Monday reported some issues with the app due to an increase in users, but Twitter’s support page said the matter was fixed.
“Sometimes more people than usual use Twitter. We prepare for these moments, but today things didn’t go exactly as planned. Some of you may have had an issue seeing replies and DMs as a result. This has been fixed. Sorry about that!” Twitter Support tweeted.
On Monday afternoon, the Facebook status page came back online with a message for users. “Major disruptions: Platform Status,” it read. “We are aware that there is an ongoing issue impacting our service. Our engineers are working on it. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
Facebook’s safety head was questioned by lawmakers last Thursday over what the company knew about the potential for Instagram to be harmful to young users’ mental health.
The Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security convened the hearing in the wake of a Wall Street Journal investigation citing Facebook’s own internal research, allegedly leaked by a whistleblower, that found Instagram adversely impacted mental health issues in teens, especially girls.
“We’re here today because Facebook has shown us once again that it is incapable of holding itself accountable,” Blumenthal said in his opening remarks last week.
Facebook defended itself against the bipartisan scrutiny at the hearing.
“We understand that recent reporting has raised a lot of questions about our internal research, including research we do to better understand young people’s experiences on Instagram,” Antigone Davis, Facebook’s global head of safety, stated in written testimony. “We strongly disagree with how this reporting characterized our work, so we want to be clear about what that research shows, and what it does not show.”
The new, upcoming committee hearing, titled “Protecting Kids Online: Testimony from a Facebook Whistleblower,” is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday.
