This year wasn’t the worst for tech. We compiled a list of some of the biggest tech innovations for 2019 here. That said, we saw plenty of big fails this year.

From Samsung’s delayed launch of the Galaxy Fold to everyone ganging up on Huawei, this year was brutal in some aspects. Let’s take a look at some of 2019’s biggest tech fails.

The biggest tech fails of 2019

Facebook fined $5 billion

Back in July 2019, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Facebook had to settle a $5 billion fine for the Cambridge Analytica scandal that made headlines in 2018.

Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm, accessed private Facebook data more than 87 million users. This data was reportedly used to help sway the 2016 US presidential election.

Samsung’s Galaxy Fold launch delay

Samsung issued review models of the Galaxy Fold to tech journalist shortly before the launch was set to place. One the first day of review, Bloomberg gadget reviewer Mark Gurman tweeted a photo of the phone’s flickering screen.

That was followed by a Verge reviewer writing about debris, possibly a stray hinge, under the screen, followed by several other bad reviews when the devices started falling apart.

This led to Samsung abruptly cancelling the Galaxy Fold launch and going back to the drawing board. Samsung later revealed that the defects were caused by “a weak hinge”, among other issues.

Huawei’s US troubles

To be clear, this isn’t a fail on Huawei’s part but rather Trump’s administration. That’s my opinion and I know not everyone will agree with me. So, what really happened?

On 15 May 2019, the Trump administration added Huawei to the US Department of Commerce Entity List by means of an executive order and blacklisted Huawei from partnering with US corporations.

Google was forced to suspend its license with Huawei, which lead to Huawei creating their own operating system called Harmony. Even Facebook had to cut ties with Huawei. The full US Trade War timeline can be found here.

‘How Gay Are You?’ app

Perhaps not the most tasteful app out there. A programmer launched an app called How Gay Are You just weeks after a major scientific study identified genes associated with gay behaviour.

The app sold for $5.50 and used the research data to calculate a user’s ‘gayness’. The app was labelled as a “dangerous mischaracterisation” of science.

WhatsApp spyware battles

The Facebook-owned chat app, WhatsApp, was battered by a serious wave of spyware vulnerabilities this year. In one particular case, attackers could remotely send malicious data packets to Android and iOS devices.

WhatsApp disclosed the vulnerability and patched the bug with a subsequent update. There were other incidents, as well.

From a security breach through sending MP4 videos to WhatsApp suing a cyber-surveillance firm for hacking the phones of human rights activists in India, it’s been a challenging year for the chat app.