Ad-Free Facebook Challenger Ello Down in DDoS Attack

Facebook challenger Ello was knocked out in a DDoS attack over the weekend, but got back up again after 30 minutes, according to The Register. The new ad-free social network, designed as an alternative to Facebook, started to investigate the attack but hadn`t issued a release by the time of publication.

We are undergoing a potential denial of service attack,” the message shown on the DDoS-ed website read. “The site is currently unavailable while we conduct some necessary maintenance. Follow along for any updates on our status page.”

Half an hour later, Ello representatives said they had solved the issue by blocking the IPs.

The platform presents itself as “a simple, beautiful, and ad-free social network created by a small group of artists and designers.” Originally built as a private social network, Ello is now open to the public on an invitation basis.

Collecting and selling your personal data, reading your posts to your friends, and mapping your social connections for profit is both creepy and unethical,” Ello`s designers said. “Under the guise of offering `free` service, users pay a high price in intrusive advertising and lack of privacy. We also think ads are tacky, that they insult our intelligence and that we’re better without them.”

No one had claimed responsibility for the apparent DDoS attack, according to The Register, but Facebook supporters may be suspect.