Signal and Telegram messaging apps are seeing a sudden increase in demand. Why? Because larger rival WhatsApp’s updated terms of service raised eyebrows on social media.
WhatsApp uses Signal’s encryption technology. It has laid out fresh terms on Wednesday. It is now asking users to agree to let owner Facebook Inc and its subsidiaries collect user data. This also includes their phone number and location.
Some privacy activists questioned the “accept our data grab or get out” move on Twitter. They suggested users to must switch to apps like Signal and Telegram.
Signal’s popularity shot up further on Thursday after it was endorsed by Elon Musk, who has one of the most-followed accounts on Twitter, and by the micro-blogging site’s top boss Jack Dorsey.
More than 100,000 users installed Signal across the app stores of Apple and Google in the last two days, while Telegram picked up nearly 2.2 million downloads, according to data analytics firm Sensor Tower.
New installs of WhatsApp fell 11% in the first seven days of 2021 compared with the prior week, but that still amounted to an estimated 10.5 million downloads globally, Sensor Tower said. Meanwhile, last year, there were reports that WhatsApp will not be free for all anymore.
Also Read: 12 Things People Do On WhatsApp That Make You Want To Kill Them!
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