Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s media office has reportedly shut down its WhatsApp groups over concerns over privacy. The move comes after Ankara called for a nationwide boycott of the Facebook messaging app.
As of Monday, the office is switching to the encrypted messaging app BiP, developed by Turkish firm Turkcell, Bloomberg reported, citing internal messages posted to the WhatsApp groups.
The decision comes amid growing concern over WhatsApp’s plan to start sharing personal data with its parent company, Facebook. The policy will take effect on February 8, and users who refuse the new terms will not have access to their accounts on the messaging platform.
Also on rt.com
Facebook forces WhatsApp users to share their personal data … or climb off the platform
The updated Terms of Use have been hostile by the Turkish government, which has used privacy issues to promote homemade programs and Internet services.
Ali Taha Koc, head of the presidency’s office for digital transformation, issued a statement on Saturday warning that applications made abroad “Contains significant risks for data security.” He urged Turkish citizens to switch to “Local and national software,” claims that the move will help Turkey protect its data.
“As President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, let’s stand together against digital fascism!” he concluded.
The message seems to have resounded. Turkcell reported that approximately one million new users have joined BiP Messenger in the last 24 hours. The app has been downloaded more than 53 million times since its launch in 2013.
Meanwhile, the Turkish media became known with high-profile individuals joining the exodus. The state-run Anadolu agency reported that a senior manager at Baykar, a Turkish drone company, had announced that it was abandoning WhatsApp due to its new data policy and that it would start using BiP.
Erdogan warned earlier “Digital fascism,” arguing that monopolizing data control would cause disasters for the world. In a November speech, he said it remains “human” in the digital age would be one of the biggest challenges ahead. However, his own government is accused of policing social media platforms and websites for political views he considers distasteful.
Do you think your friends will be interested? Share this story!