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
— Ashok 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 (@SirJadeja) November 3, 2017
And how it would affect a particular demographic.
Whatsapp was down for few minutes and suddenly the unemployment rate amongst Indian uncles rose by 1000 times. #WhatsappDown
— SAGAR (@sagarcasm) November 3, 2017
Some felt the reaction was overblown.
I just got a Whatsapp notification. They could have atleast left it for an hour or 2 or the entire day #WhatsAppDown pic.twitter.com/YSQGFUZjgK
— Zamore (@JustZamore) November 3, 2017
when you don't realize that Whatsapp is down because you never really get any texts anyway pic.twitter.com/ldMftLADvn
— ityaadi ? (@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.
#WhatsAppDown To restore your connection, link Whatsapp with your aadhaar card ?
— Keerthi? (@realkeerthi) November 3, 2017
#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 (@SirJadeja) November 3, 2017
Some wondered what had caused the outage.
What if whatsapp was down just because you didn't forward that message to 10 people back in 2014! #whatsappdown #whatsappup
— Sanket Sachde (@sanketsachde) November 3, 2017
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