The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) opened an investigation into a WhatsApp service outage which affected around 3 billion users globally in 2022, stating the messaging platform failed to report the incident on time.

In an announcement, the PTS explained WhatsApp and other electronic communication providers operating in Sweden are obliged to report security incidents if the interruption had significant social impacts.

It stated an assessment showed the WhatsApp outage constituted a “reportable security incident” and has commenced an audit to assess whether the messaging company had complied with its requirements.

The PTS probe relates to a three-hour WhatsApp outage on 25 October 2022. The regulator believes the company failed to issue a timely report and only responded after being contacted two days after the failure.

WhatsApp provided “a description of the sequence of events”, but did not supply enough details on the incident, the PTS explained.

“PTS is now launching an investigation into the incident and WhatsApp’s failure to report”, the regulator stated, noting it is the first time it had launched probe into this type of incident.