Pascal Oparada
“Use Signal”, a single tweet by the newest richest man in the world, Elon Musk has caused WhatsApp so much pain in recent days.
The leading messaging platform had released a new privacy policy in which they asked users to agree to share their WhatsApp data, including their phone numbers and contacts, with Facebook, its parent company.
“As part of the Facebook family of companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, this family of companies,” the new privacy policy says.
“We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings,” It said.
Failure to allow WhatsApp access to your data means being denied access to the platform. Users rebelled and called for a boycott of WhatsApp.
Alternatives abound. One of such is Signal, a new messaging system that promises privacy, unlike Facebook-owned WhatsApp.
It took Musk’s tweet to refocus users’ attention to the alternative that exists in Signal.
The influence of Musk’s tweet was felt by Signal when the platform barely coped with the influx of new users. Within hours, Signal began to report glitches in its system.
The company said it is overwhelmed by the influx. There were problems authenticating users’ phone numbers. The company said it is working with service providers to resolve the issue but said they’re elated with the recent outpour of new users.
Another messaging platform, Telegram also reported a huge inflow of new users.
The encrypted-messaging service saw even more users flock to its service. In the same period, it amassed 9 million new users, up 91% from the previous week.
Musk and his company, SpaceX has had a long feud with Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg after a rocket owned by SpaceX carrying a satellite owned by Facebook got destroyed in 2017. Facebook suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in loses.
The altercation that followed made Musk embark on a campaign to de-market Facebook. The popular hashtag, #DeleteFacebook was its result in 2017.
Facebook is not new to privacy issues. After the Cambridge Analytica saga, the social media giant has been faced with a series of scandals and was forced by various governments to amend its privacy policy numerous times.
The new privacy concern regarding one of its most used products has reverberated across the globe.
