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World’s richest person Elon Musk is asking people to switch to a messaging app called Signal over WhatsApp and Facebook due to a change in their policy which has raised privacy concerns.
Tesla CEO Musk appealed to people to switch to more encrypted apps than WhatsApp and Facebook and specifically mentioned Signal when asked about a safer alternative by his followers.
Use Signal
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021
Musk’s tweet comes after Signal and Telegram messaging apps are seeing a sudden increase in demand due to larger rival WhatsApp’s updated terms of service raised eyebrows on social media.
WhatsApp will share its users' personal information, including phone numbers, IP addresses, contacts, & more with Facebook from Feb. 8, according to the new T&Cs. No opt-out. The only way to object is to leave the service & move to a service like Signal or Telegram. https://t.co/FbGcq5T3JB
— Mike Butcher (@mikebutcher) January 6, 2021
WhatsApp, which uses Signal’s encryption technology, laid out fresh terms on Wednesday, asking users to agree to let owner Facebook Inc and its subsidiaries collect user data, including their phone number and location.
Some privacy activists questioned the “accept our data grab or get out” move on Twitter, and suggested users to 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 percent 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.
