I never installed Whatsapp because of its Facebook connection and despite the "friend pressure". But I am on various other messengers; Telegram, Skype, Wire, Discord etc, so my friends can definitely find me, if they need to. And Facebook itself is handy to have because of the fleemarket groups and some friends, who are still on it, so we can share kitty pics. If that wasn't the case, I would have deleted Facebook a long time ago.

i have been using Telegram/Signal/Discord for a while now. Haven't formed an opinion on which is best, as most of my contacts are not on any of them. Skype and WhatsApp definitely have the numbers to make them compelling, especially as many companies now do CS on WhatsApp (and Twitter). GDPR needs a total rework addressing Big Tech and the US needs to reform/reign in these companies, as well. Section 230 would be a good start, but only addresses part of the problem. Google and FB (among others), need to be broken up.

Don't see it happening in the current climate, but at least the public's eye(s) are being opened to the danger of the "surveillance capitalism" model.

Does Telegram still allow one participant in a conversation to delete posts from both sides of the conversation at any time?

Not sure - I am not aware of that function.

What is concerning is just how many governments and politicians rely on Whatsapp e.g. various British politicians have their own WA groups like the ERG where they discuss strategies, plot coups etc.. I know WA claims to use end-to-end encryption but who really believes this can't be hacked?

I think, the encryped part should be fine (we'll never know, though). There is enough other data to be shared. And it looks like this thing is not really new, but now you have to actually agree to what they were doing for a few years already.

What amazes me about WhatsApp is the incredible free services (messaging, phone and video) with no visible means of income.

Facebook already had Messenger, which does all WA does, I am left wondering why FB bought WA other than the encrypted data...

I think few people used messenger day to day.. unless it was inside the facebook ecosystem like responding to groups or pages..
WhatsApp on the other hand already had the user base and had already mostly replaced SMS which cost people to use.

It's all about data and with more people comes more data .. WhatsApp might be encrypted in transit but the data sitting on your phone can be read by the app and shared with facebook.. Send a message to your friend saying you're thinking about buying a trumpet you'll see adverts for trumpets in your Instagram feed and soon after on all the pages you visit.

The trumpet factory will pay more for a targeted advert than a general advert.

Whatsapp is still not that popular in the United States.

From the BBC.

Does this mean Europe, the EU, EFTA, EEA. Specifically does it include Switzerland

From what I read, they've been sharing data since 2016 or something. For some reason they're only notifying users now.

According to this WhatsApp site, Switzerland is included in the Europe region, provided by WhatsApp Ireland Limited.

https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/sec...tsapp-services

Yes. Didn't your WhatsApp inform you about it recently?
Article on SRF (in German): https://m.srf.ch/news/panorama/daten...braucht-nerven

Is What's App basically just a bunch of people addicted to texting one another?

People often ask me if I use it, and I don't because I've always imagined it to be rather annoying -- constantly receiving messages and notifications, having to look at people's selfies, etc. It just seems like it would be stressful.

Explanation of the deal with WhatsApp policy update: https://www.wired.com/story/whatsapp...-notification/

Basically, nothing really changes for most people. And re. Europe, AFAIK a bit less info is shared, but I don't have the details.

And free international phone calls.

We use it a lot at work, with relatives across the pond, etc.

Tom

Yeah, that's the only reason I still have Facebook messenger -- to use the free phone feature through there. I don't use it for messaging anymore, though, because it was stressing me out too much. I was getting messages from about 20 people every day through there. It was just overwhelming.

WhatsApp has better call quality.

Tom

…we using a lot at work, setting up work groups where you can share drawings and big files very quick...also by setting a group can be tracked live issues that been posted with pics and videos...working on computer to...

No... I use it for international texts and calls. Always goes via WiFi/Data, so you don’t have to constantly figure out if you might be charged.