After WhatsApp, one of the biggest messaging services, recently sent notifications to users about a planned update in its terms and privacy policy, several users, expressing concerns, have either moved or are planning to move to other messaging services.
The updates concern aspects such as location information, connecting WhatsApp services with Facebook Companies Products, and data which could be shared with third parties, among others.
Several WhatsApp users said that they were uncomfortable with the new policy and began to move either to Signal or Telegram.
Entrepreneur Fatema Kanchwala who was been on WhatsApp for many years said that after reading the privacy policy, which would come into force in February, she was planning to move to Signal. “The new WhatsApp privacy policy is indeed scary and I am definitely eyeing switching to Signal for both personal and professional conversations. Being a home baker, most of my conversations with my customers take place online - on Instagram or WhatsApp - and with this new rollout, the data privacy is questionable,” she says.
Similarly research scholar Fasiullah Shaik too expressed similar views. For him, transparency and how his data is used is important. “A sudden change in its privacy policy puts my data at risk. I have decided to switch to Telegram. Migrating from WhatsApp to another platform at a stroke is not easy. Besides being emotionally challenging, it is technically difficult as well,” he says. To move to the other messenger, he says, will be done in phases.
Harish Kotra, a techie, raises a point. He says that privacy is a largely ignored concept in India. “The fact that people are taking cognisance of the importance of privacy is good. The challenge is with moving lder generation to other messengers,” he says.
