Facebook down: Six hours without WhatsApp

"My dad is being treated for Covid in intensive care in Malaysia, and I rely on WhatsApp to communicate with family overseas," Anna Masing, a writer and academic based in London, told the BBC.For others the outage - affecting Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram - was less serious, with many taking to Twitter to complain about losing access to their usual communication tools and having to make phone calls. The country with the largest number of Facebook users - more than 340 million - is India, where WhatsApp is also a critical tool for personal and business communication. India has nearly 490 million active WhatsApp users, according to research company eMarketer. In Brazil, WhatsApp is used by government officials and even the educational system - students can receive their exam results via the messaging service, for example. Last month, WhatsApp launched a special directory in the Brazilian city of São Paulo - one of the most populous cities in the world - to allow users to search for local businesses and services, including some medical and food delivery providers.

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