You must have been wondering why there is suddenly talk about Whatsapp and what is this Signal and Telegram ?
Facebook has become a behemoth as its an addictive app/website which has algorithms which continuously look at what you are doing. They employ the best minds in computer engineering who focus on how to keep you scrolling ( also called doomscrolling) your feed and clicking the links. After all, the model that Facebook has is that the more you click , the more advertisement money they can make. And for that, you are the product. They data mine each and every action you take and store it for ever. See the Netflix video "Social Dilemma" to get a good idea (dramatized) about how social networks keep you hooked. The more they data mine you (fancy term for keeping track of your activities using programs) the more accurately they can give you stuff that you would want to click on.
So, whats this to do with Whatsapp ? Whatsapp was bought by Facebook a few years back for a few billion of dollars ( 19 billion dollars actually) . Its a different app altogether and has less intrusive functionality than Facebook. Have a look at this article ( https://bgr.com/2021/01/05/app-privacy-labels-facebook-messenger-vs-imessge-signal-whatsapp/?bgr-partner=flipboard ) to understand how many things Facebook collects from you. Now, with the latest Terms and Conditions changes, Facebook is going to data mine WhatsApp chats that you have to utilize for its money making. They are saying you agree to share your WhatsApp data with Facebook and other sites ( https://www.androidcentral.com/whatsapp-now-requires-you-share-data-facebook ) or else...
What that means is that your chats are now going to be used by Facebook for showing you ads. So if for instance you are chatting with your CA about your taxes - well, Facebook and its associates have access to that. I had already uninstalled Facebook from my devices as it was proven that Facebook would listen to your conversations (https://www.vice.com/en/article/wjw889/facebook-said-it-wasnt-listening-to-your-conversations-it-was) .
I use facebook only through web browser and that too using the facebook container addon in Firefox. With this new T&C for WhatsApp, many people are now up in arms against Facebook. If you do not agree to the new T&C, Facebook is saying that you will not be able to use WhatsApp at all. This is arm twisting. As such, now people are looking at other messaging apps - Signal and Telegram.
I am already using these apps for a long time now. I am seriously considering not using WhatsApp - which is a problem as already a lot of people are on whatsapp - and facebook knows that. I suggest you also install Signal or Telegram and start using those - even if you continue using WhatsApp.
Agree completely! Think the major inertia will be when it comes to shifting of groups from Whatsapp to other platforms - individually I can see many people have already done the switch (or at least, signed up).
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