WhatsApp web problem and server upgrade left thousands in social media darkness. -WhatsApp Inc.

A Woman in Kenya chatting using social media. PHOTO | Courtesy BRAVO

WhatsApp company leaves many people in the blackout as they upgraded their servers without public notice. WhatsApp social media blackout affected many people in Sub-Saharan countries as they depend on it in Video calls to their loved ones abroad.

The glitch was attributed to a server problem and upgrading and Facebook appears to be gradually restoring connectivity.

The problem was also reported in Egypt, Ireland, Russia, Malaysia, Czech Republic, Israel, Spain, Malaysia, Turkey, Italy, and Serbia. These were the main countries that were severely affected by the upgrade.

According to DownDetector, a website that tracks site and app outages, thousands of WhatsApp customers reported problems with the app.

DownDetector said the WhatsApp's problems started at around 11 am Kenyan time, with 60 percent of users unable to connect to it.A further 25 percent report issues receiving messages and 14 percent were struggling login in.

Several US dollars were lost in the upgrade. People across the country were forced to look for alternatives as the majority depend on WhatsApp at night for video calls due to geographical differences.