Tech Desk 
Jul 30, 2024
A few days ago, Pakistan experienced a major disruption in WhatsApp services, causing widespread inconvenience for users across the country.
Numerous users in Pakistan began reporting difficulties in sending and receiving media files, such as voice notes, photos, and videos, on the popular messaging application while using their mobile networks.
The disruption raised concerns over the reliability of digital communication infrastructure in the region. While some linked the disruption with the global CrowdStrike outage, others blamed the installation of a firewall in Pakistan.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), in response to a question from Gadinsider, stated: “There is no issue with WhatsApp or any social media apps currently. If anyone experienced such issues lately, it may have been due to a technical glitch.”
According to Geo Fact Check, Meta said that “everything is working fine globally.”
Also read: What happened to WhatsApp service in Pakistan
“Meta [representative] told us that she has no information about the WhatsApp disruption in Pakistan. She said everything is working fine globally and hence had no comment to make,” the report stated.
It should be noted that Meta was approached after Federal Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar claimed that the ongoing issue with WhatsApp services experienced by numerous cellular users in Pakistan was not limited to the country but was due to a global outage affecting multiple countries.
The global technological outage, which the minister falsely conflated with the slowdown of WhatsApp in Pakistan, took place on July 19, sparked by a faulty software update issued by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The fault was largely resolved within a few hours and only affected the company’s customers running Microsoft Windows.
Social media users in Pakistan began reporting difficulties in sending and receiving media files, such as videos, audio, and photos on the popular messaging application from July 17. The disruption continues for many users in the country even today.
“Please note this is due to the country’s internal internet issue. Meta has nothing to do with this,” Geo Fact Check report quoted Meta as saying.
The report added that Meta had no information about the WhatsApp disruption in Pakistan. “Everything is working fine from their [Meta’s] end/globally,” the email stated, “This seems to be a local fault.”
