Will WhatsApp lose the battle to its competitors to hold on to its users? Here is what the new WhatsApp privacy update can cost Facebook:
We can expect parallel messaging applications like Telegram and Signal to see a surge in their usage after WhatsApp introduced changes in their policy that has triggered a fear of privacy endangerment among its users. The anticipation involving how WhatsApp might lose a large portion of its user base to competing messaging apps increased tenfold when corporate tycoon Elon Musk took to Twitter and endorsed Signal. This might have a huge effect on social media users, given Musk’s large following base on Twitter, including Jack Dorsey- leading head of the micro-blogging site.
While the new installations of WhatsApp fell by 11% within the first week of this year, according to Sensor Tower, over 100,000 users downloaded the Signal app, and Telegram was downloaded by 2.2 million users on Apple Store and Google Play. With WhatsApp still leading by a huge margin of 10.5 million downloads globally, will the rise of other messaging apps be enough to threaten Facebook, its parent company?
Before we get into the specifics, let us look into the key reason that is driving away WhatsApp’s users, that is, the new update in its privacy policy. The basic essence of the update is that data can now be shared to its parent company, Facebook. Users are required to read and accept the terms of this updated policy by the 8th of February or delete their accounts. If this does not already sound threatening enough, the vagueness of the policy has given rise to confusion among its users. False claims, ironically being spread using the messaging app itself, have added to the chaos.
The current policy of end-to-end encryption that secures personal messages and media files from third party users remains without change. However, ‘approximate location’ data that is available through the phone number and IP address can be shared to Facebook. This does not include live locations shared to another user.
Zuckerburg’s immediate plans seem to focus on connecting users with businesses and exploring monetisation on what was once a “free-messaging app”. Although, for the time being WhatsApp will remain ad-free there might be plans to introduce advertisements to the story feature. If we were to look past the ethical consideration of this corporation, the primary reason for this “shift” is based on myths that claim a myriad of privacy endangerment issues. Private chats are seemingly not “private” anymore, personal media and calls can be accessed by third parties and user data shareable to WhatsApp can be used for advertisements.
Be it facts or fiction, we can definitely expect a huge outflow of users from WhatsApp joining other contemporary messaging apps. These competitor apps seem to be basking in the glory of the backlash being received by Whatsapp. Telegram joined the bandwagon by posting a meme poking fun at WhatsApp and Facebook using the ‘Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man’ meme template. Signal’s bio on its official Twitter account now reads “Say ‘hello’ to privacy”. With the influx of concerned users rushing to these apps, the verification codes of the Signal app were apparently delayed with an abnormal inflow of new users.
You might consider using apps like Telegram for distinct features, like channels and multi-platform support that are not available on Whatsapp. If privacy remains to be your concern, then Telegram’s Secret Chat feature where a self-destruct timer can be set to automatically delete the end-to-end encrypted chats may be a better alternative. It must be noted that telegram does not use end-to-end encryption in other chats like Whatsapp does.
Nevertheless, it cannot be said with certainty that one app is better at maintaining privacy than the other. With very similar privacy policies and features, Telegram or Signal might be a welcome change from WhatsApp or a shift from the mainstream. Yet the question that begs to be asked is, will this shift affect WhatsApp enough to roll back its recent policy changes? Chances of that happening seem feeble. The gaps between users on WhatsApp and its fellow competitors are still too big to be filled in by such small migrations.
(Image taken from WhatsApp's official WhatsApp status)
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