WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and iMessage: Choosing a private encrypted chat app
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Nicole Nguyen
, The Wall Street Journal
After a user-policy change and a social-media crackdown, independent messaging apps Signal and Telegram are experiencing a surge in downloads
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Two apps Signal and Telegram are currently the No. 1 and No. 2 free app downloads in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store. Millions of users flocked to the chat apps in recent weeks, according to data from Apptopia and Sensor Tower. There are a few factors behind the surge.
One is concern over a privacy-policy update for the Facebook Inc.-owned WhatsApp. Meanwhile, the deplatforming of President Trump from prominent social networks following the U.S. Capitol riot has driven people to seek communication tools without moderators and external visibility.
The root of some users frustration with WhatsApp comes from the company s owner.
In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp, co-founded by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, for $22 billion.
Data breaches have plagued Facebook users for years. Facebook announced a major hack in 2018 that impacted 50 million accounts. Facebook employees knew about flaws in the platform s security of user accounts as early as December 2017, according to a Telegraph report.
During the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, Facebook said as many as 87 million people may have had their data accessed.
Koum left Facebook in 2018, and Acton went on to inject $50 million of his own money into rival encrypted chat app Signal.