In the chaos of Facebook’s service interruption on Monday, many people found for the first time that it was easy to overlook the company’s influence. Not being able to post new photos on Instagram is an annoyance, but it is not necessarily disastrous. However, for WhatsApp users, especially users outside the United States, the loss of Facebook’s encrypted messaging service is even a life-threatening change, and it has also become a factor that competitors in the industry are eager to use to promote themselves today.
In February last year, WhatsApp announced that it has 2 billion users worldwide. Compared with the 2.5 billion users of the Facebook app, it is not difficult to see how many lives WhatsApp has touched. It has become the default method of contacting people in many countries, including about 400 million monthly unique users in India, Bloomberg wrote.
This has long gone beyond the scope of leisure communication. WhatsApp also focuses on becoming an important business tool. The app already accepts in-app payments in Brazil and India. In addition, WhatsApp claimed in October 2020 that 175 million people worldwide use its app to send messages to businesses every day.
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When Facebook goes down, an economy also stagnates
The paralysis of WhatsApp, means that calls and messages to friends and family may be unanswered, customer service requests cannot be resolved, and important organizational information cannot be disseminated. This secure SMS application is often one of many tools used by organizers to lead demonstrations and protests (unless it is blocked).
The interruption of WhatsApp is a huge problem for those who rely on it, but it may be a boon for competing encrypted messaging applications. When there is a problem with Facebook and WhatsApp, the major players Signal, Telegram, and at least iMessage in the United States will benefit. But so far, only Signal has publicly commented on the matter.
Signal did not disclose specific numbers but said that its new user registration rate is rushing to a new high, comparable to January this year. WhatsApp previously introduced a controversial new privacy policy for business information, and Facebook as a whole was once again under fire for its possible role in the riots in the Capitol on January 6.
Facebook is restoring its services, and we need more time to really know how many people are negatively affected by Facebook’s failure.