WhatsApp back online after worldwide outage

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The messaging platform WhatsApp has come back online after an outage that affected users around the world.

People trying to send messages on the Meta-owned platform, which has some two billion users globally, began reporting issues just before 08:00 BST.

More than 12,000 reports were posted within half an hour, according to the service status website Down Detector.

By about 10:00 BST service seemed to be returning for many users with reports to Down Detector declining.

Users also posted to social media that the service was returning for them.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

As WhatsApp experienced difficulties many people complained on social media that they could not send or receive messages.

Users who tried to use the app on Tuesday morning were faced with a “connecting” message.

The message that appears when attempt to connect to WhatsApp on the web.

A spokesperson for Meta said: “We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble sending messages and we’re working to restore WhatsApp for everyone as quickly as possible.”

The outage is likely have caused significant disruption.

The app, which offers end-to-end encryption for messages, is a popular method of group communication for social, work and parenting activities.

It has even been used, controversially, by government ministers.

According to internet monitoring organisation NetBlocks the outage affected users both in the UK and around the world.

The outage appeared to have global reach, with BBC journalists in Australia and Ukraine reporting problems

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

There were also reports of problems in Hong Kong, South Africa Singapore and India – a key market for the platform.

Last year WhatsApp went down as part of of a six-hour outage which also hit Facebook, Oculus and Instagram.

Facebook later said the global problem was caused by a configuration change.

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