Since WhatsApp issued a policy update on 4 January in which it gave its users the option of accepting or being shut out of the messaging platform, millions of people are caught in-between whether to accept or dump it for alternatives.
Accepting the updated policy means they will acquiesce to Facebook getting its hands on their data and feeding it off to advertisers.
Dismissing the update however means that come February they no longer have access to WhatsApp services, which could mean losing years of archives of messages, connections with relations, friends, and business connections who still use WhatsApp as their primary messaging platform.
On the upside, they could migrate to one of the alternatives like Telegram which at least doesn’t share data with its owner, and Signal, a nonprofit messaging platform with a laser-focus on privacy.
Of all the alternatives, Signal appears to be the lead contender as it has been the biggest gainer in terms of popularity, of the fallout of the update. In terms of the number of new users gained, Telegram has received 2.2 million new downloads in two days after the update according to Reuter.
On Sunday the platform tweeted a picture that showed it leading charts of social media platforms with the most interest.
“Look at what you’ve done,” Signal at its 277,000 followers, a message which is as much a shot at WhatsApp as it is a celebration of its recent good fortunes.
Elon Musk, the World’s wealthiest person, took to Twitter to ask his 41.5 million followers to migrate to Signal after the WhatsApp update was announced. As of Saturday, 9 January 2021 over 100,000 users have installed Signal across the app stores of Google and Apple.
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But irrespective of the amount of anger unleashed on WhatsApp, it is unlikely it will be losing its billions of losers. As of October, about 2 billion users were accessing the messaging platform.
So what makes it hard to say goodbye to WhatsApp?
To start with, many users already agreed to the policy without reading it.
“I realised I already accepted the new WhatsApp policy without even reading it,” said Twitter user, Freddie, the Creator. It is a sentiment shared by many people on social media and those who spoke to BusinessDay as well.
“I didn’t even read the so-called WhatsApp policy. I saw a long note and I press ‘agree’,” said Toba Zibdam, another Twitter user said.
As many researchers have found, it is one thing to visit a page with a privacy policy, but another to actually read that policy.
A Deloitte study of 2000 consumers in the US in 2017, found that 91 percent of people consent to legal terms and services conditions without reading them. For younger people, ages 18-34 the rate is even higher with 97 percent agreeing to conditions before reading.
A poll by SurveyMonkey showed that while a majority of people say it is essential to have a clear understanding of a company’s privacy policy before signing up for its service online – very few actually do read it. The rest just skip right to the “I agree” box on a privacy policy.
Another thing to consider is old habits die hard. Not many users want to give up a platform that has come to form part of their everyday lives. For older parents especially, it might seem a big ask to leave the platform and start life afresh on either Signal or Telegram.
Some people who have already tried to begin a new life on Signal say they are disappointed that most of their contacts are not on the platform yet, hence it feels very lonely.
“I think people are just being dramatic. On the 8th of February, we will all still be there on WhatsApp,” said a user called Mazwide.
Also, it is likely that the exodus from WhatsApp to alternatives would not include users in the UK and Europe as the privacy policy update clearly exempts them. Facebook issued a statement recently saying there would be no changes in the “European region” – which covers the EU, EEA, and post-Brexit UK.
“Facebook grants itself access to all of our WhatsApp-data unless… you are living in the EU. That is why data protection matters,” Paul Tang, Dutch MEP tweeted.
But the campaign to dump WhatsApp is gaining momentum. Telegram on Sunday posted a video of pallbearers carrying a coffin with the updated privacy policy inscribed in front. In some of its replies to followers, it urged them to uninstall WhatsApp and “move on” with their lives.
