Changes to WhatsApp’s privacy terms have caused users of Telegram and Signal to have an outing.
WhatsApp, a messaging service owned by Facebook that has more than two billion users, recently announced controversial changes to its privacy terms, prompting a major exodus of users to competing platforms, particularly Telegram and Signal.
Users outside Europe who do not accept the new terms before February 8 will be cut off from the messaging app.
WhatsApp says the changes will help it integrate better with Facebook, but tech experts and privacy advocates have expressed concerns about data security.
Here are four things you need to know about the issue:
What does the new WhatsApp privacy look like?
Under the new terms, WhatsApp retains the right to share user data, including location and phone number, with its parent company Facebook Inc and other apps shared by the social networking giant – Instagram and Messenger. The sharing of data has so far been optional, but after February 8 it will become mandatory. Technical experts believe the move is aimed at earning WhatsApp.
Why does it cause the flight of users?
Many users are wary of the move because Facebook has a bad record in handling user data.
Some privacy activists have asked WhatsApp users on Twitter to switch to apps like Signal and Telegram, questioning the move “accept our data grab or go out”.
Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of Telegram, said: “People no longer want to trade their privacy for free services”.
What advantages do the other competing programs have?
More than 100,000 users have installed Signal in the Apple and Google app stores in the past two days, while Telegram has picked up nearly 2.2 million downloads, according to data analytics firm Sensor Tower.
New WhatsApp installations dropped 11 percent in the first seven days of 2021 compared to the previous week, but it still amounts to an estimated 10.5 million downloads worldwide, Sensor Tower said.
Both Telegram and Signal are encrypted messaging programs that ensure better privacy. They do not allow outsiders or the platform itself to see the content of the messages.
What does WhatsApp do about it?
The company tried to reassure users by saying in a blog post that WhatsApp could not see their private messages or hear their calls, and neither could Facebook.
“We do not keep track of who is sending or calling messages. We can not see your shared location, and neither can Facebook, ”he added.
Location data and the content of the message were encrypted from end to end according to WhatsApp.
But other metadata like call records, location, financial information, etc. Can be shared if you use WhatsApp.
“We offer businesses the option to use secure hosting services from Facebook to manage WhatsApp chats with their customers, answer questions and send useful information such as proof of purchase,” WhatsApp said in the post.
“Whether you communicate with a business by phone, email or WhatsApp, it can see what you’re saying and can use the information for its own marketing purposes, which may include advertising on Facebook.”