Facebook 'Like Button' Bug Shuts Down Internet's Biggest Websites

A Facebook bug shut down large swathes of the Internet on Thursday evening and early Friday morning.

A problem with the mechanics of Facebook's 'Like' button briefly redirected people from many big websites - including the Huffington Post - to an error page on Facebook.

Other websites affected included Gawker Media sites, ESPN, Reuters, Business Insider, Soundcloud and the Washington Post.

For about half an hour users took to Twitter to note how they were unable to access their favourite sites or follow certain links.

The issue only affected people who were logged into Facebook at the time.

"For a short period of time, there was a bug that redirected people from third party sites with Facebook Login to Facebook.com. The issue was quickly resolved," Facebook told HuffPost.