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Once again, controversy arises over the privacy policy on instant messaging applications, especially after the announcement of “WhatsApp” to prevent its users who refuse to accept its new terms of using their accounts from February 8.
As soon as the user logs into the “WhatsApp” application, a message appears in front of them asking them to update the privacy policy of the application.
The new policy allows “WhatsApp” to share some of its users’ data with the company “Facebook”, owner of the application, and allocates space to interact with advertisements.
The new changes have come under heavy criticism on social media, with commentators accusing the app of violating their privacy.
Some app users have also complained about the activation of the new terms of service without seeing their details.
While the tweeters posted a list of apps, they said that it “has strong encryption functionality and takes privacy into account, like the” Telegram “app.
In a brief tweet on Twitter, Tesla Chairman Alon Musk advised his followers to use the “Signal” app.
Another commented: “What is the reason for this ‘fear’ of privacy adjustments in WhatsApp? In my opinion, the problem is nothing more than competition for the market?
What is the difference between WhatsApp and Signal? What data will WhatsApp share with Facebook?
What do we know about the new WhatsApp update?
WhatsApp is one of the biggest apps from the Facebook company. It has around 2.2 billion users worldwide and is the most downloaded application on smartphones.
In August 2016, WhatsApp made a major update to the privacy policy.
The WhatsApp administration was not satisfied with these procedures, so they added new updates a few days ago.
The new terms provide for collecting information and sharing it with other Facebook companies such as phone number, account image and user activities on the app in addition to specifying the digital ID ( IP) of the user’s computer or phone, location and language.
It also includes the collection of information on payment transactions and financial data of users.
Facebook aims to “develop profitable sales and services by allowing advertisers to communicate with their customers through WhatsApp, or even sell their products directly through the platform.”
“Data likely to be shared between WhatsApp and the rest of the Facebook applications will not include the content of messages that remain encrypted,” the WhatsApp administration said in a statement sent to the French news agency.
But it appears those assurances have not allayed the suspicions of app users who decided to resort to the “Signal” app after Elon Musk invited his followers to use it.
It should be noted that Musk, who is on the throne of the richest in the world, has over 40 followers on Twitter.
More than 100,000 people have downloaded the “Signal” app to their devices in the past two days, while Telegram has been downloaded around two million times, according to data analytics company Sensor Tower.
Signal, in turn, announced heavy pressure on its platform.
What are the differences between “Signal and WhatsApp”?
The Signal app was first introduced in 2014.
The company that owns the app receives funding from nonprofits dedicated to ensuring freedom of expression. It is a very popular application among journalists.
It is believed that it is difficult for a third party to penetrate the Signal talks.
Despite the widespread news about a spy company’s success in penetrating the app, the company, “Singal” and the technicians Others have refuted this, according to what the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in two separate articles last month.
There are many similarities between the two apps and “WhatsApp” and “Signal”, as they both use the same “end-to-end” encryption technology, which means that messages cannot be decrypted when they are are sent between devices.
But the differences between them are stark, according to what tech content creator Osama Essam El Din said in an interview with Trend Blog.
“Signal uses a private, open source encryption system, which gives experts the ability to verify the base code at any time, while the WhatsApp application does not allow easy review of its code,” he explains.
It also allows “WhatsApp” to store a large amount of data related to the user and his activities. It will collect more information in the next update to share with the Facebook group.
“WhatsApp will not collect actual user data, but will instead use metadata, which are algorithms that describe your interests and activities to other Facebook companies,” according to technical expert Osama Essam El-Din.
For example, if you want to buy a specific device or visit a movie theater, WhatsApp analyzes your interests and sends them to Facebook so that it can display advertisements that might appeal to you.
Usually, some business companies use “WhatsApp” to communicate with their customers, that’s why some years ago, Facebook group launched “WhatsApp Business” app to reap more profit.
But it’s completely different with Signal, because it won’t keep information about you or your activities, nor share it with a third party.
The app also denies that there is a plan to include ads, at least for now.
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