In January 2004, Mark Zuckerberg coded a new site known as TheFacebook while attending Harvard University. He met with Harvard student Eduardo Saverin, and each agreed to invest $1,000. On the 4th of February 2004, Zuckerberg launched TheFacebook. Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College. Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes joined Zuckerberg to help manage the growth of the site. It became available successively to most universities in the US and Canada. In 2004, Napster co-founder Sean Parker became company president and the company moved to Palo Alto, California. PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel gave Facebook its first investment. In 2005, the company dropped the from its name after purchasing the domain name Facebook.com. In 2006, Facebook opened to everyone at least or only 13 years old with a valid email address.
The site's primary color is blue as Zuckerberg is red, green colorblind, a realization that occurred after a test taken around 2007. Facebook was initially built using PHP, a popular scripting language designed for web development. As Facebook grew in user base and functionality, the company encountered scalability and performance challenges with PHP. One of the most significant was the creation of the HipHop Virtual Machine (HHVM). This significantly improved the performance and efficiency of PHP code execution on Facebook's servers. On the 20th of March 2014, Facebook announced a new open-source programming language called Hack. Before public release, a large portion of Facebook was already running and battle tested using the new language. The site upgraded from HTTP to the more secure HTTPS in January 2011. Facebook uses its own content delivery network or edge network under the domain fbcdn.net for serving static data. Until the mid-2010s, Facebook also relied on Akamai for CDN services.
On the 7th of June 2018, Facebook announced that a bug had resulted in about 14 million Facebook users having their default sharing setting for all new posts set to public. On the 4th of April 2019, half a billion records of Facebook users were found exposed on Amazon cloud servers, containing information about users' friends, likes, groups, and checked-in locations, as well as names, passwords and email addresses. In September 2024, Meta paid a $101 million fine for storing up to 600 million passwords of Facebook and Instagram users in plain text. The practice was initially discovered in 2019, though reports indicate passwords were stored in plain text since 2012. After acquiring Onavo in 2013, Facebook used its Onavo Protect virtual private network (VPN) app to collect information on users' web traffic and app usage. This allowed Facebook to monitor its competitors' performance, and motivated Facebook to acquire WhatsApp in 2014. Media outlets classified Onavo Protect as spyware. In August 2018, Facebook removed the app in response to pressure from Apple, who asserted that it violated their guidelines.
In 2018, Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian organizations for engaging in operations to interfere with U.S. political and electoral processes, including the 2016 presidential election. Mueller contacted Facebook subsequently to the company's disclosure that it had sold more than $100,000 worth of ads to a company Internet Research Agency, owned by Russian billionaire and businessman Yevgeniy Prigozhin with links to the Russian intelligence community before the 2016 United States presidential election. In September 2017, Facebook's chief security officer Alex Stamos wrote the company found approximately $100,000 in ad spending from June 2015 to May 2017 associated with roughly 3,000 ads that was connected to about 470 inauthentic accounts and Pages in violation of our policies. Our analysis suggests these accounts and Pages were affiliated with one another and likely operated out of Russia. Clinton and Trump campaigns spent $81 million on Facebook ads. The company pledged full cooperation in Mueller's investigation, and provided all information about the Russian advertisements.
In July 2018, Facebook stated that it would downrank articles that its fact-checkers determined to be false, and remove misinformation that incited violence. In May 2019, Facebook banned a number of dangerous commentators from its platform, including Alex Jones, Louis Farrakhan, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, Paul Nehlen, David Duke, and Laura Loomer for allegedly engaging in violence and hate. In May 2020, Facebook agreed to a preliminary settlement of $52 million to compensate U.S.-based Facebook content moderators for their psychological trauma suffered on the job. Other legal actions around the world, including in Ireland, await settlement. In September 2020, the Government of Thailand utilized the Computer Crime Act for the first time to take action against Facebook and Twitter for ignoring requests to take down content and not complying with court orders. According to a report by Reuters, beginning in 2020, the United States military ran a propaganda campaign to spread disinformation about the Sinovac Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, including using fake social media accounts to spread the disinformation that the Sinovac vaccine contained pork-derived ingredients and was therefore haram under Islamic law.
In the 24th of July 2019, the FTC fined Facebook $5 billion, the largest penalty ever imposed on a company for violating consumer privacy. Additionally, Facebook had to implement a new privacy structure, follow a 20-year settlement order, and allow the FTC to monitor Facebook. Cambridge Analytica's CEO and a developer faced restrictions on future business dealings and were ordered to destroy any personal information they collected. Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy. Facebook also implemented additional privacy controls and settings in part to comply with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which took effect in May. Facebook also ended its active opposition to the California Consumer Privacy Act. In 2012, it purchased Instagram, followed by WhatsApp and Oculus VR in 2014, extending its influence beyond social networking into messaging and virtual reality. The Facebook, Cambridge Analytica data scandal in 2018 revealed misuse of user data to influence elections, sparking global outcry and leading to regulatory fines and hearings.
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Common questions
When did Mark Zuckerberg launch TheFacebook?
Mark Zuckerberg launched TheFacebook on the 4th of February 2004 while attending Harvard University. Initial membership was restricted to students of Harvard College.
What happened during the Facebook data breach in September 2024?
Meta paid a $101 million fine for storing up to 600 million passwords of Facebook and Instagram users in plain text. This practice was initially discovered in 2019, though reports indicate passwords were stored in plain text since 2012.
How much did the FTC fine Facebook for privacy violations in July 2019?
The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion on the 24th of July 2019 for violating consumer privacy. This penalty required Facebook to implement a new privacy structure and follow a 20-year settlement order monitored by the FTC.
Why is blue the primary color of Facebook?
Facebook uses blue as its primary color because Mark Zuckerberg is red-green colorblind. He realized this fact after taking a test around 2007.
Which companies did Facebook acquire between 2012 and 2014?
Facebook purchased Instagram in 2012 and acquired WhatsApp and Oculus VR in 2014. These acquisitions extended the company's influence beyond social networking into messaging and virtual reality.