BENGALURU: While Meta-owned WhatsApp saw an inexplicable outage for two hours on Tuesday, its users took no time in taking to social media to vent their frustrations. The application has seen widespread use across the nation, so its two-hour outage, giving users an error, posed a problem to many. Especially as the company had not made any announcement previous to or after the outage to shed light on what caused the problem.
Within minutes of the outage, #whatsappdown was trending across the state, with users making fun of others for running to Twitter and other social media outlets to confirm if the popular messaging app was down.
Meanwhile, others wrote out heartfelt apologies for cursing their internet and phones, after they had restarted both several times. This was possibly attributed to the fact that during the outage, WhatsApp users were faced with an error that asked to ensure that the user’s internet connection was working.
“If even WhatsApp doesn’t want to work on Diwali, how can they expect me to want to work?” quipped one woeful Twitter user. Another user made fun of the difficulties being faced, comparing the error to Bengaluru traffic. “It’s easier to get through Bengaluru traffic than Whatsapp, right now,” they said.
Another user jokingly attributed the outage to Indian celebration following confirmation that Rishi Sunak would be the UK’s next Prime Minister. “I told you guys, don’t send so many messages on WhatsApp celebrating Karnataka’s son-in-law becoming UK’s PM.
See now #WhatsAppDown.” Some government departments also got into the game, stating that they will be available on other platforms during the outage. The state Department of Minority Welfare tweeted, stating that due to the outage, they will be available on Telegram in case of emergencies.