Global users had a mishap with social media today as WhatsApp and Instagram—the famed Facebook app—went off the air in India. Yahoo updates are a problem that started at around noon and made it impossible for users to send messages or to refresh their feed, making many frustrated and guessing.

What Happened?

It seemed that both platforms went down at the same time because a myriad of reports arrived from several large cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru. Many people log into their social media profiles, such as Twitter and Facebook, to share their concerns due to the WhatsApp and Instagram application problems by using the hashtags #WhatsAppDown and #InstagramDown, respectively, which can trend within a short period.

To those using WhatsApp, messages were retronymed and frozen on the clock symbol as a sign that they would not be delivered. Facebook users complained about problems with the feed’s loading speed, while users of Instagram had similar problems with posts, the stories section, or the Explore tab.

Meta’s Response

Facebook, the parent company of WhatsApp and Instagram, briefly addressed the outages in a statement. A spokesperson commented, "We know that some of our users are experiencing difficulty with WhatsApp and Instagram.” Saying that our teams are taking necessary measures to complete the problem in the shortest period possible.”

The company has not given a reason why, but it may be due to servers since both apps are built on the same platform.

Impact on Users

The latter had terrible consequences where people of all groups and corporate entities that depend on these platforms for communication and marketing have been greatly inconvenienced. Several users also reported negative outcomes such as slow response time as far as customers are concerned and disruption of other business activities.

Outages Becoming Common?

It is not the first time Meta’s services have been disrupted in recent months. More frequent interruptions make people look at the dependability of these platforms even though they have become the leading common ground for people’s digital communication around the world.

Currently, users are only encouraged to wait as Meta recovers the full functionality of the application. At the same time, sites such as Telegram and Twitter are seeing increased usage.

More details are still being awaited in the unfolding of this story.