( CNN ) -- For a few minutes Thursday evening , Facebook was redirecting users visiting dozens of websites -- including Mashable and CNN -- to cryptic error pages . The reaction online was pretty much what you 'd expect , with -- as The Next Web noted -- hashtags like `` Facebookmageddon '' and `` Facebocalypse '' common amongst Twitter users . So what happened , exactly ? There was an issue with the Facebook Connect API that caused users on sites that use that API to redirect users to a Facebook error page . For example , if you were visiting Mashable and logged into our site using your Facebook account ( and you were also signed into Facebook ) , you were automatically redirected to a Facebook error page . Exiting the page or attempting to re-access the original site would lead to another . Sites such as The Huffington Post , Kayak , Hulu , The Daily Dot , Pinterest and hundreds of others were all impacted . The bug lasted less than 10 minutes . In a statement , Facebook told Mashable : `` For a short period of time , there was a bug that redirected people logging in with Facebook from third party sites . The issue was quickly resolved and Login with Facebook is now working as usual . '' The bug may have been brief , but it has highlighted just how many important websites use Facebook Connect for user authentication . Over the span of just a few years , Facebook logins have become so pervasive that they are nearly second nature . It also shows that if Facebook has an issue , it can affect more than just its site -- it can also impact the hundreds of thousands ( millions ? ) of sites that integrate with Facebook 's APIs . What 's interesting is that a user did n't even need to be performing the action for the error -- and hijacking -- to occur . Instead , simply being logged into both places ( and having the accounts linked ) was enough to force users off of a third-party website and onto Facebook 's error page . © 2013 MASHABLE.com . All rights reserved .
Facebook also causes other websites to crash for days . The crashes , with Facebook 's log - in tool , last about 10 minutes . CNN , BBC , Huffington Post , Facebook , are among the sites impacted .