Early this morning, you might have noticed that WhatsApp put up a post on its status. The popular messaging app shared on social media that is through its own app’s status and Twitter fleets reminders to its users that their privacy is main priority.
The post was about its recent privacy policy that made people very unhappy as many claimed that they would resort to other alternatives.
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This looks like a pretty desperate move by the Facebook-owned app which sent out notifications two weeks ago giving users an ultimatum that they either agree to the new policy terms or lose their accounts by 8th February.
This notification made waves all over social media the moment it came out with many users worried about what it could mean when it comes to the security and privacy of user data. Several WhatsApp users did not waste any time looking for alternative messaging apps that could work just as well as WhatsApp.
The two most preferred alternatives, Telegram and Signal have since taken advantage of WhatsApp’s distress to massively advertise themselves and their features. They have since observed a surge in downloads with Signal getting 7.5 million downloads globally and Telegram with 5.6 million downloads.
The application with over 2 billion users globally has since come out to explain what the update to its privacy policy means. It explained the new terms and conditions through a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) blog where it openly laid out what the update meant.
Read more: WhatsApp privacy policy update clarified after backlash.
However, it looks like the app’s efforts to reassure its users were ineffective as many are already convinced that their private data is at risk of being shared with Facebook.
In brand new efforts to persuade its users, the Facebook-owned app has now put up its own status with posts expressing how much it prioritizes the privacy of its customers and clarifying that user data is not at risk like many believe.
In its blog that was posted almost two weeks ago, it explained that the update is only to ensure seamless communication between WhatsApp and Facebook. By the looks of it, many of the platform’s 2 billion users have already moved on and comfortable with the alternatives they discovered.
The famous messaging app could shed more light on its latest policy change or make a new exciting update soon. Whatever the case could be, we may see WhatsApp rely on this method of communication more often to keep users updated.
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