WhatsApp privacy policy changes released a few days ago have arisen many questions & explanations to be answered by the developers. A lot of controversy with their new privacy policy arose, including the right to be allowed to “read messages via Facebook” for marketing purposes has landed WhatsApp in hot water.
The exact terms and conditions of WhatsApp state, “WhatsApp policy talk about what information we collect and how this affects you.” Automatically collected information that is shared include:
- Information associated with your account like your personal phone number, profile name, profile photo, information you have entered & messages.
- Any contacts you have on your mobile are stored.
- Your information is made available to third-party service providers that claim to help customize and operate the application to your needs.
- Your information gets shared around Facebook Company Products like Instagram, Facebook & many more.
The scary part is the permissions you allow WhatsApp to use, including the microphone and camera, which sparked controversy. Once the new privacy policy is released, “WhatsApp could listen or watch us” along with the fact that they could read the messages we send.
WhatsApp & Mr. Mark Zuckerberg have responded, stating, “This was not the case.” As you can see, most of your information has been or will be used for marketing & other processes of Facebook’s Company Products. This can be alarming if you have too much private information on WhatsApp.
He wouldn’t share his info with You
In a court setting with Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, it was even more alarming when the judge had asked if he would share his information of the last person he called or where he stayed at a hotel last & he responded, “No your honor, I would not like to disclose that sort of information”.
This clearly shows that privacy invasion is serious & that nobody likes their private information being accessed by external parties.
Many consumers who used WhatsApp have already started to leave the service as they are scared of their personal information being misused. From the 8th of February, these privacy changes will take place on WhatsApp.
Since this WhatsApp Privacy Policy change has been announced, it’s clear that consumers are looking for encrypted messaging applications, meaning that their information is private & not misused.
There are many alternatives to WhatsApp on the market, which we will list today in this article, giving you pure encryption & privacy.
Telegram
With around 500 million users registered, Telegram is one of the biggest messaging applications with encryption after WhatsApp. Telegram differs from WhatsApp in a few ways as it’s a cloud-based service, unlike WhatsApp, and has two layers of encryption.
Telegram explained that their service has “An encryption based on 256-bit symmetric AES & 2048-bit RSA” encryption methods. See, previously, Facebook had been hijacked via their privacy flaws providing the methods that WhatsApp uses isn’t effective enough. Telegram pride themselves on their methods of privacy protection.
Telegram also came out stating that “Big internet companies have their marketing teams convince the public that important things about privacy are superficial tools the allows you to hide posts from the public & enables companies to calm down the public but change nothing in how they are turning private data into marketing points.”
Telegram currently does not support or have any ads/marketing integrated into the application, proving that marketing can affect your privacy.
Signal
Signal is a smaller instant messaging company compared to Telegram & WhatsApp. Like WhatsApp and Telegram, Signal provides end-to-end encryption during messaging, making it a safe & reliable alternative to WhatsApp for messaging.
Signal saves chats on the local devices rather than a cloud-based server, unlike Telegram and WhatsApp, making sure none of your information is stored on someone else’s servers.
If you do choose Signal to migrate to, be sure to read their terms & conditions as their third-party policy states, “Our third-party providers send a verification code to your mobile number when you register, these providers are bound by privacy policies to protect your information.
If you use YouTube, Spotify, Giphy, Facebook or any other third-party service with Signal, their terms and conditions govern your use on those particular services”.
This shows that Signal does not share your information, but third-party applications you add to the service may.
Discord
Once a platform for gamers to chat on but has gone under extensive upgrades, it is more than just a platform for gamers. Now with the variety of services Discord offers, you can use it for normal video calls, voice calls, and messaging. With the use of GIFs, integrations with YouTube, Twitch, Steam, GitHub, Spotify, and many other services,
Discord is arguably better than WhatsApp in providing services. Discord also has end-to-end encryption while in a call or messaging. All you need for Discord is an email address & a nickname that you can create, no need for a lot of personal information at all, making it a viable option for a WhatsApp alternative with much more functionality.
Wrap Up
WhatsApp is the most popular instant messaging application in the world. Still, since the controversial privacy policy being released, consumers have flocked to find other alternatives to ensure their private information is safe & secure.
We listed 3 of the most used messaging applications after both WhatsApp & Messenger in 2021.
While it’s expected that WhatsApp will not follow through with the privacy policy, they introduced to be put in place on the 8th of February 2021, use these three options as a viable alternative, which in some cases offer much more functionality and services than WhatsApp offers.
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