This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Unfortunately WhatsApp managed to take hold of the Zeitgeist during the early 2010s when some European carriers were still charging for texts or charging lots for data.
The fact Meta was allowed to buy WhatsApp is a travesty. We're supposed to just trust that Meta isn't lying when it says it isn't looking at the E2EE keys? Come on. We have literal governments using it as a communication tool.
They don't even have to look at the keys, they have the app, can encrypt your messages with their key, or send the plain text contents separately, or who knows what else. Plus your recipients are not encrypted like in signal for instance where security is a foundational requirement. Anyone done any sort of audit?
Not Europe, but the non-western world. Ask anyone from Brazil or the Philippines.
But also Europe. In the Netherlands the amount of sms is still limited
Fair enough.
European carriers are still charging for sms messages. Luckily RCS now kind of exists.
Yes and no. All plans still include SMS but they're very cheap, sadly they're not much used anymore cause everyone uses WA or other apps. Some don't even read or respond to SMS, which is maddening to me because what's the fucking difference?
SMS is pretty antiquated tech in a way and just made basically obsolete with internet-based messengers.
[...] But before we dive into this thought experiment, however, it’s worth establishing what we’re actually talking about, as readers in most of Europe and North America underestimate WhatsApp by an order of magnitude, primarily because in those markets it functions as one platforms among many. That is, however, not how the rest of the planet works. [...]
Great read.
Whatsapp is just more shitty Meta product... Can't be trusted.
Whatsapp is just more shitty Meta product... Can't be trusted.
Meta is just more shitty Facebook rebranding... Can't be trusted.
:)
They've probably re-engineered it since the acquisition, in order to make it easier to further enshittify it and to spy on their users more effectively.
Like Microsoft did to Skype.
I'd just call (ok, text) one or two people who manage whatsapp groups I use the most and ask them to recreate the groups in some other platform, preferrably signal/element or such and add everyone back (via email preferrably). It would be a weird day for people with tons of contacts and groups...but it would not be a calamity...right?
I'd love to have no WhatsApp in my life. Many years ago, I signed off it as I did with Facebook. Sadly, because of where we are at the moment, my partner is now the main hub for communication with businesses and people who don't care about or aren't aware of Meta's privacy practices. After many arguments, I'm now being forced to share the communication responsibilities and reinstall WhatsApp.
For those who can, I read a suggestion once that struck me with its simplicity: turn your account into a business one and set an automatic reply letting anyone who messages you know that you've moved permanently and how to find you.
maybe you could keep whatsapp on the cheapest phone you can find. it can also probably be turned off when not being used. this is what I would do.
Or, if you're technical, install Matrix server with Whatsapp bridge.
Let’s start by understanding the sheer scale of WhatsApp. The Meta owned and operated messenger has roughly 3.3 billion monthly active users
Had to reread that, cause Messenger is also a Meta chat service ...
Here's my thought experiment: nothing changes.
I have literally never used it. I have one very simple rule for chat apps that I hold to over everything else. The user identifier must be a username or email address. It must absolutely not be a phone number or something else that intrinsically ties it to a specific device. What's App has failed that test since before Facebook bought it. In a world where we have multiple devices and move between them often, it has always been insane to me that other people don't think there's a problem with using a phone number as a unique identifier for an individual. And it only gets even worse when you start adding international travel, changing your phone number, etc. into the mix.
It's a day I wouldn't even notice something special. As I never used that piece of shit excuse of an app. Fuck Zuck.
Have you seen the amount of telemetry WhatsApp is sending to a he meta servers
I would not even notice except the news stories. (thankfully)
yeah wouldn't have to hear from my offshore contractors anymore...it'd be nice.
