How the Facebook outage affected the developing world, which depends on WhatsApp for health services and to shield communications from totalitarian governments. / NBC News, People

Related: Telegram says it added 70 million new users while Facebook was down. / The Guardian

The Facebook outage forced small business owners to realize that building a customer base on Instagram comes with a lot of risk. / BuzzFeed News

The British Toy and Hobby Association claims nearly half the toys from third-party online sellers are unsafe for children. / The Guardian

Related: Research shows babies have microplastics in their bodies—potentially 15 times above the amount in adults. / Euronews

Last month, in a single day, investors spent more than $1 billion on the aggregator businesses that buy up smaller Amazon sellers. / Sifted

Op: Texas is the future of America, and the state's conservative leaders know that means their days are numbered. / The New York Times

Only four percent of the blue plaques around London commemorate people of color. / The Guardian

"'I'm not a genius, but I still got it worked out,' would be better rendered, 'I am very smart; I just never got a chance to study.'" On Squid Game and Netflix's dubious subtitles. / The Week

Based on a lot of binge watching, shows start getting good (or become obviously hopeless) around the fourth episode. / The Atlantic

See also: The perfect pop song is two minutes and 42 seconds long. / The Morning News

The "most boring video ever made" is a 1989 Microsoft Word tutorial. / Boing Boing

Watch: From 1984, Stanley Kubrick talks about his favorite software manuals. / YouTube

"[Fanfic] has tangible effects on the real world, and is therefore a meaningful form of cultural activism." / Literary Hub

Free-motion embroidered coral and other organic shapes, by Meredith Woolnough. / Colossal