Facebook paid over $1 million to fix problem.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Facebook, constantly under criticism for deficiencies in its omnipresent website and smartphone applications, announced that it has paid over $1 million in the past two years to computer wizards and researchers who are able to locate and fix bugs in its software. The second-biggest country with recipients of this money is India.
The program has exceeded many industry insiders’ expectations, perhaps none more than Facebook itself. “We’ve paid out more than $1 million dollars in bounties and have collaborated with researchers from all around the world to stamp out bugs in our products and in our infrastructure,” said the company in a statement released on its official website. “The program has been even more successful than we’d anticipated.”
Bugs, a colloquial term used by computer engineers, tech gurus, and “geeks” around the world, simply refers to small problems in the code of a website or program that can lead to the product running slow, unexpectedly crashing, or potentially worse malfunctions. In a world where people expect to be able to Share a video or Tweet a photo instantly, bugs can be the bane of a software company’s existence if they aren’t sorted out as soon as possible. Facebook seems to have found an innovative – and apparently very effective – way to combat that problem.
The highest bounty Facebook paid out as part of its bounty program so far was $20,000. Some recipients, by finding and solving numerous problems, have been able to earn sums above $100,000. Facebook has paid bounties to 329 people, including one youngster who was 13 years old. Two bug bounty hunters were later hired full-time by Facebook, as part of their cybersecurity division.
India is second only to the US in bounty recipients. Rounding out the top five are the UK, Turkey, and Germany. India is also the second fastest-growing in terms of bounty recipients.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com