WhatsApp faces outage after FB buyout
NEW YORK: WhatsApp suffered an outage for more than three hours on Saturday, frustrating users just days after its acquisition by social networking giant Facebook for $19 billion.
“WhatsApp service has been restored. We are so sorry for the downtime...,” WhatsApp tweeted to its more than 1 million Twitter followers on Saturday around 5:48 pm EST (4.18 PM according to India time).
The service had earlier said it was “experiencing server issues” without providing details. Facebook referred questions on the outage to WhatsApp representatives, who did not immediately respond.
Five-year-old WhatsApp has about 450 million users worldwide and is adding a million users daily.
On Saturday, some of those users took to other forms of social media, including blogs and Twitter to report the outage and vent their frustration.
“So now that #Whatsapp isn’t working I’ve actually talked to my family, they seem like nice people,” tweeted @Ali_Hilu of Jordan.
And @Iamhollybrown of Surrey, England, scolded, “Can’t believe all these people are crying about Whatsapp not working, do some exercise, do some work, learn a language.”
WhatsApp’s smartphonebased messaging is known to appeal to teens and others who avoid mainstream social networks.
There was even buzz that Facebook had really bought WhatsApp to shut it down and funnel users to Facebook Chat. REUTERS
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