Facebook Inc. owned messaging platform, WhatsApp has recently updated its terms of service and privacy policy and there might be a problem with the new rules. The update gives users better insight on the Facebook-WhatsApp integration, the platform has asked users to accept the terms after which it will use the user’s data to share it with the parent company, Facebook Inc. for privacy concerns.
There are concerns and questions about this data sharing that the platform claims for better integration, but the major criticism is on the fact that WhatsApp has given its user’s a deadline that the new terms and conditions should be accepted by the users before 8th February 2021 in order to continue using the platform.
This ‘Take it or Leave it’ condition imposed by the platform is what is troubling people and raising the most questions.
Having said that, because of this criticism and WhatsApp-Facebook’s integration, other messaging platforms like Signal and Telegram have risen in demand. If you are not aware, WhatsApp uses Signal’s end-to-end encryption technology and since the users have been asked to provide their user data for Facebook Inc. and all of its subsidiaries, people have been switching to Signal and Telegram as a revolt against this monopolistic move.
As mentioned in a report by Money Control, Twitter has been flooded with the concerns of many privacy activists and encouraging to quit the platform and switch to other alternatives.
Signal, a cross-platform encrypted messaging service uses the internet to send and receive one-to-one and group messages including images, voice notes and other features, similar to WhatsApp. Consumer demand for Signal has recently been hyped after it was endorsed by Elon Musk who, by the way, is currently the richest person in the world after surpassing Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos.
The billionaire has one of the most followed Twitter accounts and his word is valuable to many and enough to convince people. Anyhow, Signal has been getting a lot of attention lately and Sensor Tower, a data analytics company has shared statistics about the platform’s hype.
According to the data analytics firm, as mentioned in a report by Money Control, Signal app has been downloaded by more than hundred thousand users across Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store in the last 2 days.
On the other hand, Telegram has also received over 2.2 million downloads according to the data shared by Sensor Tower.
However, WhatsApp is still among the most popular and most used messaging services and despite the criticism, the platform continues to be at the top of the list for a majority of users worldwide. After the latest terms and conditions criticisms, new downloads of the platform reduced by 11% in the first week of 2021 but still remains strong as a messaging service.
In a recent report, it is also said that since WhatsApp has rolled out its WhatsApp payment option in India, the feature will have its own dedicated set of privacy terms and conditions wherein, the platform will ask users for additional information on transaction information, payment account etc.
