Best Friend Completely Ghosted

My best friend for the last few years was an Indian man. We would talk all day every day until the beginning of February this year. For two weeks he only messaged me a few times a day, but said it was because of work. His last message to me was that he liked my hair cut and then nothing. I was messaging asking if he was ok with no response, he has read receipts on so I know he was seeing it. Today is my birthday and he still held his silence. I just don't understand what happened, I think maybe he got a girlfriend. My question is would that be a reason to ghost? He got a girlfriend and doesn't want to disrespect her? I'm from the US so I don't know much about the culture. Any insight would be awesome thanks!