this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2026
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Europe

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[โ€“] ProfThadBach@lemmy.world 31 points 2 days ago

The simple answer is it is owned by Facebook.

[โ€“] notsosure@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 days ago

Good. Iโ€™ve ditched all Meta products. Why support US American billionaires? These platforms have made them rich, but the users got little in return: anti-democracy groups, misinformation, hate, racism and childporn.

[โ€“] manxu@piefed.social 11 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I get the why, but with what?

[โ€“] genfood@feddit.org 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Did you watched the video?

Basically ~~every~~ some EU countries started at some point building their own instant Messenger.

  • Germany has the Bundesmessenger, the BwMessenger (for the armed forces) and the TI-Messenger (TIM) for the healthcare sector
  • Luxembourg has Luxchat4Gov and Luxchat
  • France has the Tchap
  • Belgium has BEAM
  • Poland also has plans to do something
  • Sweden mandated the use of open and federated chat protocols. (Via the eSam framework)

Basically all of them are based on Matrix.

Would be interesting how these apps can be used by individuals and how the interoperability works, between the different services. While I understand that some of this services are not meant for this, it would be nice to have sort of European framework in place to also replace features like WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp in general.

[โ€“] genfood@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago

Frances Tchap and Germanys BwMessenger. block external federation for example.

Matrix seems to be the most prevalent replacement for government communication in the EU. Lots of countries and orgs already use it and write their own software stack based on it. These are usually private federations so not connected to the rest of the public matrix network.

[โ€“] Barbarian@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 days ago

Governmental messaging platforms. This video is about government workers.

[โ€“] remon@ani.social 4 points 2 days ago

As said in the video several countries as well as the European commission are working on their own apps.

I've seen a lot of people in my social circle switching over to Signal. Some groups have moved and some of my private chats have switched, too. That might depend on your social circle, but I see it in mine

[โ€“] Grass@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

why did they ever use it to begin with? why are humans so fucking stupid? Why do people still make it their national identity that [insert country here]ians use whatsapp?

[โ€“] Asinus@feddit.org 7 points 2 days ago

why did they ever use it to begin with

In the late 2000s SMS used to be expensive if you used a lot of them. When mobile internet became widespread & affordable, whatsapp was first to grab that market.

I don't think it's really a identity-thing. A lot of people are just used to it and don't even think about alternatives (even if they should).

[โ€“] torik@lemmychan.org 2 points 2 days ago

Anytime I see someone recommend whatsapp, I know I'm dealing with a moron.