Earlier this week, Facebook, Instagram, and a handful of other sites, went down for about an hour. According to Facebook, it was the result of an internal glitch, but some souls didn’t think that explanation was sufficient, so they called 911 — seriously.
One 911 dispatcher in California told the Claycord, a Californian daily news website, that people actually had the gall to pick up the phone, dial 911, and ask when Facebook would be back online. “I just want to know if you can put a note out to Claycordians asking them to not call 911 when a website doesn’t work,” said the dispatcher, who asked to remain anonymous. “We have nothing to do with Facebook and when Facebook isn’t working, it’s not an emergency.”
The dispatcher went on to describe one caller in particular, who actually called back and blasted the dispatcher for being rude because the caller was told it was not a life-threatening emergency. We wish this was some kind of joke as much as you do.
Lizard Squad, the nebulous collective that took the credit for taking the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live online services down during the holidays, also took credit for Facebook’s and Instagram’s outages. As previously mentioned, Facebook claims it was the result of an internal glitch. For future reference, if you want to voice your concerns to the proper channels, call Facebook at 650-543-4800, not 911 — Save that number for real emergencies.