Tesla billionaire Elon Musk has urged people to dump WhatsApp and switch to Signal after being told to share personal data with Facebook, its parent company.
On Wednesday, WhatsApp announced that its users will be expected to share WhatsApp data, including user phone numbers, contacts’ phone numbers, location, and more with Facebook.
According to their announcement, users who refuse to share their data will be denied access to WhatsApp from February 8.
TechCrunch editor Mike Butcher, who compared the data WhatsApp collects versus Signal and Telegram, tweeted: “Signal and Telegram are now better alternatives if you are concerned about your privacy,”
Following the announcement, Elon Musk recommended that users switch services to ‘Signal’.
Signal uses an advanced end to end encryption protocol that provides privacy for every message every time.
Signal is a free and open source software, enabling anyone to verify its security by auditing the code. It’s the only private messenger that uses open source, peer-reviewed cryptographic protocols to keep your messages safe.
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Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014, and in 2016 gave users the one-time chance to opt out of having app data shared with Facebook, so this move comes as a surprise to many users.
A spokesperson for WhatsApp revealed that the new arrangement was put in place to allow businesses to store WhatsApp chats using Facebook’s broader infrastructure.