If you are a WhatsApp user, you might have seen the recent articles reporting how WhatsApp and Facebook are becoming more and more chummy with each other. You probably have already seen the pop-up notice telling you that you have to agree to the most recent iteration of their terms and conditions. And if you don't, then you should delete your account. Well, I cannot remain comfortable with the idea that my personal data in WhatsApp would be shared with the other Facebook companies, so yes, I am leaving WhatsApp, by February 8 at the latest, when these changes take effect. But before doing so, I informed my contacts of my decision, and surprisingly enough, quite a few are migrating out with me!
See, I prepared a short message as a template, telling people that I am leaving WhatsApp due to the upcoming changes. I also gave them an invitation to let me know in case they are interested in the details. Quite a few said yes. To those that were interested, I told them of the differences in privacy settings between WhatsApp and other providers out there, showing that there are definitely alternatives with more privacy-friendly configurations, with apps that adhere to privacy-by-design. I showed them that WhatsApp uses way more personal data than other providers to essentially accomplish the same thing, i.e., communication with contacts. So if I want to communicate, I would rather prefer the provider who has less metadata about me. I also provided a couple of links to news articles explaining in more detail what exactly is happening.
And I have to say, quite a few of my contacts agreed, and some even installed the alternative, essentially following me to the alternative platform! I have two alternative platforms, and there are some people I know who are already in either one of these two. And for the rest, they've downloaded it for the first time after seeing what I have done. This is definitely good news.
So yes, it's the end of the line for WhatsApp for me. I will be out of this app by February 8 at the latest.
