It’s a testament to how integral WhatsApp has become to the daily lives of its Indian users that a brief outage triggered something of a national panic.
WhatsApp is currently down for millions of users. India, where WhatsAp is the most popular messaging platform, also appeared to be hit, with users being unable to send or receive messages.
This Is how whatsapp is responding when I reinstalled it @WhatsApp #WhatsAppDown pic.twitter.com/vUGRRZhey0
— I_the_Thimmapuram (@Ashok286281) November 3, 2017
But Twitter tried to make light of the situation. People wondered how the outage would affect relationships.
Whatsapp been down for 5 minutes.
17000 people have been broken up with and blocked for not replying to HUD since 10:51#whatsappdown
— Nina Hastie (@THATninahastie) November 3, 2017
2 Minutes Of Silence For Relationships That Broke Because of #WhatsappDown. 🙏
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) November 3, 2017
And how it would affect a particular demographic.
https://twitter.com/sagarcasm/status/926378064463872000
Some felt the reaction was overblown.
https://twitter.com/JustZamore/status/926378697703161856
when you don't realize that Whatsapp is down because you never really get any texts anyway pic.twitter.com/ldMftLADvn
— the incredible sulk (@ityaadie) November 3, 2017
Some people reminisced about how times had changed.
Earlier we use to validate the power cut by checking the neighboring houses and now validate everything by checking #Twitter. #WhatsAppDown🤪
— Jaya Singh (@jayasingh69) November 3, 2017
While others wondered if it was because of the current political climate.
https://twitter.com/realkeerthi/status/926376888074780672
#WhatsAppDown
Whatsapp is down because team has decided to have Whatsapp Anthem which every Nationalist has to sing & respect.— Stinger™ (@imStinger01) November 3, 2017
#WhatsAppDown, Rahul Gandhi To Visit #WhatsApp Headquarters. 🙏
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) November 3, 2017
Some wondered what had caused the outage.
https://twitter.com/sanketsachde/status/926379046253899777
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
On a positive note, we are spared from the family group discussions and fake news and videos sent on the group #WhatsAppdown
— Karan Shah (@Karan_J_Shah) November 3, 2017