HONG KONG / NEW DELHI / SINGAPORE – A topic has been a trend on social media last week in Hong Kong, which has been increasingly under the watchful eye of Beijing following a national security law imposed last year in the territory.
“We’ve come from ICQ to MSN, from MSN to WhatsApp. It’s not that hard to switch to another app!” The line refers to the popular instant messaging tools that have been popping up over the last 20 years.
It is an indication that people in the city have joined social media users around the world in a shift to other messaging platforms due to privacy concerns, after WhatsApp dismayed many users by rewriting their terms. of use on January 6th.
The new terms will basically allow Facebook, the owner of WhatsApp, to access certain personal information, such as contact lists, location, financial information and usage data.
Since then, WhatsApp rivals have seen a record number of downloads.
Signal, a private messaging app, recorded 7.5 million downloads worldwide between Jan. 6 and 10 after support from Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Snowor Edward Snowden. contractor of the United States National Security Agency. That’s up 43 times the week before, according to Sensor Tower, an app analytics company.
Awareness of data privacy has grown in Hong Kong following the 2019 anti-government demonstrations, when protesters used anonymous messaging apps to evade surveillance. © Reuters
Another messaging app, Telegram, said it accumulated more than 25 million new users worldwide between Jan. 10 and 12, which helped surpass 500 million active users, compared with the 2 billion monthly active WhatsApp users in February last year.
Despite WhatsApp guarantees that the company does not access and cannot access private conversations, as they are automatically encrypted from end to end, it has not been able to stop the mass migration.
Last week, Signal and Telegram surpassed Apple and Google app stores in several countries, including the United States, several European nations, and Asian countries where WhatsApp is the dominant messenger.
“After seeing WhatsApp ‘s long list of personal data statements, I decided to change [to] Signal to protect my privacy, ”said Kwok Ka-wing, chairman of the Hong Kong General Financial Industry Employees’ Union, adding that he distrusts excessive control of Big Tech companies.
Kwok is among dozens of Hong Kong activists, scholars and celebrities who called for people to abandon WhatsApp, which is used by about 80% of the city’s population. Awareness of privacy and data security has grown at the financial center following widespread anti-government protests in 2019, when protesters used anonymous messaging apps to circumvent police surveillance.
“The migration to Signal reflects growing concerns about privacy and security more generally and the loss of trust in WhatsApp and Facebook, more specifically,” said Lokman Tsui, an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who specializes in privacy and online communications.
“Facebook promised not to force WhatsApp to share data with them when they bought WhatsApp,” he said. “They have broken that promise.”
Tsui added that Signal, a non-profit app that collects only the absolutely necessary metadata, made it stand out in an increasingly crowded application field. Signal relies on donations, including a $ 50 million loan from its co-founder Brian Acton, who also helped create WhatsApp and for a long time advocated for data privacy.
Some analysts believe that India, WhatsApp’s largest single market with a strong 400 million user base, will not be significantly affected despite the exodus being reported elsewhere. © Reuters
To attract more people to Signal, 26-year-old graphic designer Fiona Wong in Hong Kong has contributed to a public database that makes WhatsApp stickers usable on Signal.
“I hope this provides more incentives for my friends and other people to emigrate,” he said. “At the end of the day, the success of a messaging app just depends on whether the people around you are actively using it,” he said.
WhatsApp’s new privacy policies aim to make it easier to place ads on other Facebook-owned platforms. This allows Facebook to earn revenue with the free messaging service it acquired for $ 19 billion in 2014. Users who refuse to accept the new terms starting Feb. 8 can only use limited features afterwards.
The Hong Kong privacy watchdog has urged WhatsApp to delay the deadline and “provide practical alternatives” for those who disagree with the new terms to continue using the service.
At the moment, Europe is the only region in the world where the new WhatsApp privacy conditions do not apply, as the strict privacy laws of the European Union allowed the authorities to fine up to 4% of annual revenue. global if regulations are enforced.
Still, in India, WhatsApp’s largest single market, with a strong 400 million user base, some analysts believe it will not be significantly affected despite the exodus being reported in others. places.
“There will always be strata of people more mobile up, more educated in privacy [to other apps], obviously, but we’re not talking about two million users here, ”Vir Gogia, chief analyst, founder and CEO of Greyhound Research, told Nikkei Asia Sanchit.
“Even those two million, by the way, don’t leave WhatsApp completely and go to, say, Signal or Telegram. They’re adding to it,” he said.
“WhatsApp has committed to India in a very big way and has essentially established the ecosystem of content players, of trade players around it that allows it to thrive in the country,” Gogia said. “Only from this perspective, neither Signal nor Telegram have made any visible commitment to the country.”
Digital messaging users in Singapore have increasingly adopted rival platforms for WhatsApp, such as Telegram, even before WhatsApp announced its updated terms of service. (Photo by Akira Kodaka)
In fact, Asian companies often use WhatsApp to communicate with customers with many who have chats tailored to the app. The company launched WhatsApp Business in early 2018 and has entered the realm of payments in its two largest markets, India and Brazil.
Neha Bhatnagar, 40, a corporate communications professional in the Indian capital, said people on her contact list have started downloading Signal and Telegram in recent days while staying active on WhatsApp.
“I myself joined Signal on Monday just to see how many people I know are there and found that about 100 of the more than 1,050 contacts on my phone had added Signal. But all of my personal and official groups are still on WhatsApp and I have intention “To continue using the application,” he said, adding, “Why should I change? Phone and laptop data are already compromised [or] the application you are using has been filtered. Nothing is called ‘privacy’. “
Gogia, however, said that privacy is a very personal concept. “What may be very private to you may not be to me.” He also noted that the sensitivity to privacy in India is lower than in other Asian countries.
Digital messaging users in Singapore have also increasingly adopted rival platforms for WhatsApp, such as Telegram, even before WhatsApp announced its updated terms of service. But WhatsApp is still widely used. In a report released in February last year, data analytics platform DataReportal noted that 81% of internet users aged 16 to 64 in a survey said they used WhatsApp.
Su Lian Jye, chief analyst at technology analysis company ABI Research, said he has not observed any WhatsApp exodus in Singapore.
“I think the predominant attitudes that make WhatsApp sticky in Singapore are the strength of the WhatsApp brand, the ease of use and the simplicity,” he said. “In the West, privacy and the protection of personal data are the main concerns. People are actively looking for tools and solutions that prioritize these aspects.”
There are, however, in the city-state that want to leave WhatsApp.
Justin Kan, 37, a financial advisor, has downloaded Telegram and Signal to complement the use of Facebook’s proprietary messaging platform. But Kan acknowledges that he has not been able to leave WhatsApp completely because most of his contacts are still using the platform, with less than 30 contacts on Signal.
“I still have to use WhatsApp,” Kan said. “But lately, I’ve seen more and more people joining Signal and Telegram, which is encouraging. That means a lot of people are also starting to see the impact that apps like WhatsApp have on our privacy.”
Similarly, Wong in Hong Kong admits that he cannot leave all Facebook-owned platforms overnight despite privacy issues, given the lack of good alternatives.
“But if WhatsApp migration can be sustained, it will motivate more privacy-conscious companies to compete with Facebook and Instagram and offer users more options,” he said.