Instant messaging service WhatsApp was inaccessible for several users for nearly an hour today.
The company owned by Meta announced on Twitter that they were working to resolve the connectivity issues with WhatsApp. The WhatsApp outage caught widespread attention on social media, leaving many questioning the cause of the issue.
WhatsApp outage: What happened?
The WhatsApp outage on the cross-platform mobile messaging app reached a high level between 2 A.M. to 4 A.M. ET.
The outage came to light when Downdetector, which offers connectivity intelligence, performed a check of the messaging platform.
WhatsApp addressed the outage issue and assured that they were looking into the issue and soon announced that they were back. “And we’re back happy chatting,” wrote the Meta-owned company addressing the WhatsApp outage.
WhatsApp outage or a security incident?
At this point, it is not known whether the WhatsApp outage was part of a cyber attack or security incident. According to a Cybernews report, nearly 40,000 users in the US claimed to have issues with services on WhatsApp. This included 59% of individuals facing issues in sending messages while 37% having trouble with the entire app.
In the United Kingdom, about 175,000 users were found to have complications in using WhatsApp during the outage at WhatsApp. 16% of UK users were not able to receive messages.
The numbers decreased gradually from 175,000 to 1,500 in the UK when the clock hit 5.30 P.M. ET. Nearly 200,000 users were found to be affected by the WhatsApp outage, globally.
Downdetector that detected the WhatsApp connection problem posted an update about the issue. “User reports indicate problems at WhatsApp,” the post said.
The platform created the chart as shown in the image above that highlighted the timeline of the WhatsApp outage. It covered the usual volume of reports by time of day. This incident was reported by Downdetector because the number of reports of problems received for WhatsApp was higher than usual.
Several users commented on the website of Downdetector expressing concerns about the WhatsApp issue and offering solutions.
One of the users wrote, “I’ve done everything to fix the glitches that have been appearing on my account for days, such as “WhatsApp unavailable refresh again.”
Earlier this month, most of Meta’s social media apps were reported to be suffering an outage. Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Threads, all were having accessibility issues however were soon resolved. This outage with Meta’s apps were also detected by Downdetector.com just like the present Whatsapp outage.
Several Twitter users took to WhatsApp as it was an active platform that allowed users to express their issues with connecting on the mobile messaging app.
Twitter and Threads amid the WhatsApp outage
While Twitter became the platform to announce the WhatsApp outage, the two rivals namely Twitter and Threads have been in the news for increasing and decreasing numbers of users.
Threads achieved a groundbreaking milestone by attracting an astonishing number of users – nearly 109 million – in just one week
Facebook took four and a half years to reach 100 million users in 2008, Instagram took two and a half years, and Twitter took two full years. However, reports of a dip soon surfaced in the media stating that Threads lost nearly half its daily users in 10 days.
Besides users, the two social media platforms have been in the news for coded messages from Elon Musk being sent to Mark Zuckerberg. Elon has also threatened to sue Mark in a letter to the latter’s lawyer.
This letter accused Meta of engaging in systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.
