WhatsApp has been in the news quite a bit since the inception of its “new” privacy policy agreement and the announcement of the same to it’s 2 billion users. I say “new” because the same policy has existed for as long as WhatsApp has, with minor changes and the world suddenly realized that they were getting screwed over in 2021. At first, being the internet giant that they are while being a subsidiary of Facebook, they predicted their users to simply tap accept as they had been doing for how many ever years WhatsApp has been around, but to their utter surprise and disappointment, this time literally everyone has looked at or knows the fine print by now, which is basically that they collect information about so many things regarding your phone and it’s fingerprint that it is more like a digital spy on your phone than an actual messenger. Obviously, they faced a TON of backlash for this in the form of people straight up deleting their accounts on WhatsApp (along with the app of course) and the number has crept up so high by now that the initial damage control that they released needs damage control of its own. What I’m referring to is the recent information chart kind of thing that they released on twitter (https://twitter.com/WhatsApp/status/1348839600333049857?s=20) which is supposed to clear things for people about what their policy means, but as Lew Later says in one of his recent podcast clips (WhatsApp Enters Damage Control, Are They Lying? – YouTube) – the chart is blatantly wrong in its information. So they are, in fact lying, because no matter what the information chart seems to say, what will actually be implemented and viable in court is the fine print, the actual legal notices and policies that are available. To understand how exactly they have lied you can watch the video as Lew explains it very well.
In addition to all this, for further damage control, WhatsApp just said that they would be postponing the requirement of consent from users for their new policy by three months. What this means is that WhatsApp is trying to give its users the blatant message that, whatever happens, they aren’t going to actually change their policy, but will do everything except that in order to retain their users. As is pretty damn evident, this is sleazy scumbag behaviour and I personally believe no one is going to fall for it, so take my advice and leave WhatsApp for the better alternatives like Signal and Telegram.
This isn’t to say that the alternatives are easier to use, or better in every way than WhatsApp, but if you’re interested in retaining the information of your digital footprint, leaving WhatsApp (and in fact all the Facebook subsidiaries, especially the main Facebook app) is the best pathway to freedom at this point of time. I have personally been using Signal and Telegram both for a long time (3+ years) by now, and I can vouch for Telegram to be even more user-friendly, and secure than WhatsApp. Of course, the final choice is yours, but I hope this little something that I’ve written changes the way you feel about this cursed conglomerate giant and its application.
