Facebook’s announcement from last week, according to which it will use the information in its instant messaging app WhatsApp, has caused a great stir around the world. Many users are debating whether to continue using the popular widget, or switch to a competing app. Before you make the decision, it is important to understand that Facebook’s announcement does not significantly change the situation, as Westap has been sharing information with the parent company since 2016.
The change that will take effect on February 8 is actually the expansion of Facebook’s use of the information, in order to adjust more accurate advertising, and later – for the sake of increasing the company’s profits. The Reuters news agency reported that on the day the WhatsApp announcement was published, the single had been downloaded by more than one hundred million users worldwide.
Now, users can choose from four options:
- Stay in Wastap: Everyone uses it, so it will be very difficult to completely disconnect.
(Download: iOS / Google Play) - Telegram: The app has gained a reputation as an anonymous platform, and has previously been reported to have been used to organize protests in a number of countries (including Russia and Iran). Also, being anonymous allows for the planning of crimes and terrorist attacks. The message in it is not encrypted by default, and it is not clear what it does encrypt – since a telegram is based on closed source code that no one has checked. It is important to note that the app can be more dangerous than the social networks themselves because it provides almost complete anonymity, and this can be seen when looking at all those cases where nude photos and videos are distributed, as well as the use made by Telegrass of the app.
(Download: iOS / Google Play) - Signal: The app was released after leaker Edward Snowden noted that he uses it to communicate with his surroundings. It is currently at the top of the download table in app stores, and one of the reasons for this is probably Elon Musk’s tweet from last weekend, in which he recommended switching to it (however, Musk also previously tweeted against Facebook, announcing the deletion of his accounts as well as his companies’ accounts). One of the other events that led to a jump in the number of downloads was the death of George Floyd, when in the week after his death the number of downloads jumped five times compared to the previous week.
(Download: iOS / Google Play) - SMS messages: Yes these are the same text messages, which today are used by us mainly for getting different verification codes, or advertisements of stores where we purchased. In any case, this is a not particularly feasible solution, since in our daily lives (and especially during the election period) text messages are sometimes perceived as a nuisance, rather than an effective means of communication.
Get to know the app
Signal is a free instant messaging app that allows you to transfer photos, documents and audio clips. It can also make video and voice calls between individual users. It is available for iPhones and Android devices, as well as for the various operating systems in computers, and in fact enables all the familiar and beloved features from Westap. The only information that Single keeps is the cell phone number you signed up with, and the fact that it is a non-profit institution means that it has no commercial ambitions – and the information it provides does not interest it.
The main difference is the security and encryption of the information, since unlike WhatsApp, a signal encrypts all communications, including backups. In fact, the entire open source widget is now considered to be the most secure messaging widget.