The impact of Facebook's 6-hour crash of the Brazilian economy

On this Monday (4th October), the Facebook servers were down, and consequently, apps like WhatsApp and Instagram were not working. Users were not being able to share messages, communicate or have any access to social media during 6 full hours, which made many very stressed and apprehensive.
During this day, the Ibovespa, the main index of the Brazilian stock exchange (B3), accumulated a drop of 2.22%, while the value of the dollar increased by 3.42%, in comparisson to the Brazilian real. According to the president of the Regional Economic Council of Ceará, fluctuations in the Brazilian market directly reflects the behavior of the stock exchanges in the United States and the actions of investors who make daily transactions on B3. He also explained that the drop in social networks and messages created a new factor of uncertainty in the North American market, mainly focused on the performance of technology companies.
In Brazil, around 60% of micro and small businesses use WhatsApp as the main channel of communication with their clients, and Facebook and Instagram to promote and exhibit their products. Despite the fact that these social media apps were out of service for a short period of time, it was enough to make many business owners worried, and loose many sale opportunities.

By: Henrique Sampaio
Edited by: Anna Kissajikian