The world’s most common messaging platform, WhatsApp, is in the eye of the storm in its most significant industry more than a new set of terms and circumstances, that while have been stalled till May, have develop into a supply of grave concern for customers – and the government. So significantly so that, the government has sent out a sturdy message to the Facebook-owned platform to re-think about, even as Indians have began to think about seemingly more safe options like Telegram and Signal.
According to a new CyberMedia Research (CMR) study, an overwhelming 79% of customers across the major eight cities of India, like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune are reconsidering utilizing WhatsApp with 28% of these even organizing to leave the platform just after the implementation of its ‘take it or leave it policy’ in May 2021.
WhatsApp says working on addressing misinformation on privacy policy as India requires sturdy stand against update
More particularly, 51% of respondents stated they would lessen the use of WhatsApp and may move to Telegram, Signal or other chat apps whilst 28% have been positive they would not continue with WhatsApp at all.
WhatsApp privacy policy update: what is it and what are the issues
The updated privacy policy will enable WhatsApp to share “some” user information with parent firm Facebook although it has clarified on numerous occasions that, it “does not affect the privacy of your messages with your friends and family in any way.” The larger concern is, there appears to be no way to opt out, at least at this point of time for most customers globally like in India. At the similar time, the update does not apply to the European industry since of EU’s stern privacy suggestions that WhatsApp is forced to comply with. This is a thing that the government of India has also highlighted explicitly in its message to WhatsApp, saying the platform can’t unilaterally place in such a policy in its most significant industry and that WhatsApp was obliged to respect the privacy of its biggest user base.
“What is remarkable is, most Indians (76%) were aware of the policy,” Prabhu Ram, Head, Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR told TheSpuzz Online.
“WhatsApp has been the default messaging tool for consumers, even more than the normal SMS. It was free, it was intimate, it was something we owned. But now because of this take it or leave it policy, the consumers are becoming aware that it was not free, after all.”
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There was the sense of anger (49%) and loss of trust (45%) along with a feeling of sadness, and most importantly, breach of trust (35%), Ram stated. A mere 10% of buyers remained indifferent to the new policy announcement.
Telegram appears to be the most significant beneficiary with 41% of these surveyed organizing to switch to it whilst 35% preferred Signal.
“Over the past one year, 37% of users have actually used Telegram, compared to a mere 10% for Signal, a rather nascent messaging app that is enjoying a spike in downloads in recent days,” Ram stated.
There are other factors contributing to Telegram’s surge in recognition more than WhatsApp. Majority of customers on WhatsApp did not really feel secure storing their chat backup on third-party platforms like Google Drive or iCloud. Telegram delivers its personal committed cloud for backup – 49% respondents appreciated this aspect. Moreover, Telegram scored decrease in terms of occurrence of phishing and spamming whilst also more pro-actively acknowledging user reports on illegal, abusive and copyrighted content by way of in-app buttons, and an Abuse Notification Channel.
“If the survey is to be conducted again, the results would be more or less the same. We have 95% confidence in our results. And they are statistically precise of plus or minus of 3% of what they would be if the entire population had been serviced. So, this would be the case, even if this were to be extended beyond those eight metros,” Ram stated, adding, “WhatsApp has been something which we have been so accustomed to, but going forward, we might be looking at a multi-messaging future.”