There has been a lot of drama recently after WhatsApp had issued its updated privacy policy in January 2021. The Facebook-owned company’s take it or leave it stance towards their users has made people think of other alternatives. While a few of the WhatsApp users have agreed to the updated policy certain others are on the run towards other messaging applications.
But will it have an impact on the population of WhatsApp users?
Or, how long can WhatsApp users stay away from their favorite choice of instant messaging solution?
Or the more important question; has the apple fallen so far away from the tree? Let us have a look.
With 1.5 billion active monthly users and 1.5 billion messages sent daily, WhatsApp is the number one choice of instant messaging solution throughout the world.
Even though WhatsApp was sharing their user data with Facebook from 2016 onwards, the recent update to their privacy policy gave more insight in this regard. In this update, Facebook tries to explain how the user (outside European Union and the UK) data from WhatsApp is handled and what type of information is shared with Facebook. The company also pushed WhatsApp users to accept the new privacy policy update before February 8, 2021, failing to which the users will lose access to WhatsApp services. The move by Facebook welcomed widespread criticisms that resulted in people moving out to other IM applications such as Telegram and Signal.
Owing to WhatsApp’s controversial policy update, Signal and Telegram saw a significant increase in their app downloads. According to the data provided by the app-analytics firm Sensor Tower, there were 7.5 million downloads during the period between January 6 and January 10 of this year. This number includes the installs from both Google Play and App Store worldwide. When compared to the 250,000 downloads in the previous week the increase in downloads was 4200%. Signal benefited more when the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk posted the comment “Use Signal” on his Twitter page.
The outrage from WhatsApp users has not only benefited Signal but Telegram also. In the same week, Telegram also saw an increase, where they had 9 million downloads, compared to the 6.5 million downloads in the preceding week. Telegram became the most downloaded non-gaming application in January 2021, in both Google Play and App Store. The application also exceeded 500 million users as a result of this increase.
Signal, which was initially launched in 2014 had a game-changing experience when WhatsApp’s co-founder Brian Acton joined the team in 2018. The application has become more refined since then. Signal is committed more to user privacy. Hence they depend on user donations and not on advertisements or data sales for their operations.
All messages sent and received by Signal are end-to-end encrypted. Signal uses an open-source encryption protocol. This allows them to be reviewed by security researchers for any vulnerability. Signal also encrypts its metadata, offering them an edge over other competitors in ensuring user privacy. But even after having so many advantages, co-founder Acton himself has agreed that Signal cannot replace WhatsApp entirely. According to Acton people will use both the applications simultaneously for different purposes. Signal may be used to communicate with friends and family, where privacy is very important. For communication in all other regards, WhatsApp could still be the answer for most people.
Telegram, founded by Pavel Durov has been in the instant messaging industry since 2013. Telegram also offers services similar to WhatsApp, where users can send text and voice messages. It also gives the users the option of voice and video calls. Secret chat is another important service offered by the application, where the messages are end-to-end encrypted.
Even though Telegram says that their application is more secure compared to their competitors, facts are usually not in their favor. Group messages on Telegram are only encrypted between the device and the application’s cloud storage. It should be noted that Telegram will have the decryption keys to this data which is clearly a contradiction to their statement.
Another security issue pointed out by a recent security report was regarding the self-destructed sent and received conversations in Telegram’s macOS. Self-destructed messages were still available in the storage path even after they were deleted. Also, audio and video files sent via secret chats were available in the same path, where Telegram stored its non end-to-end encrypted messages.
During the first week of the WhatsApp privacy policy dilemma, the number of app downloads was decreased to 9.7 million, compared to 11.3 million in the previous week. Both Signal and Telegram were able to grab hold of this opportunity to increase their user reach. But this does not necessarily mean that these applications will entirely replace WhatsApp. WhatsApp is still the favorite choice of people all over the globe. The popularity of Signal and Telegram may continue to increase. People may continue to use these applications along with WhatsApp but may not consider them as a complete replacement for WhatsApp. Both Signal and WhatsApp use the same security protocol for end-to-end encryption. Hence Signal is sure to offer more privacy when compared to Telegram.
These changes in the communication industry not only affect the IM application users but will also set off alarms for regulators and compliance managers. Financial regulators like FCA, SEC, FINRA, MAS, HKMA, etc have already issued guidelines on maintaining communication compliance in financial firms. With the recent trends where most people are working from home, compliance managers are having a hard time monitoring their employees. While new methods are being adopted for WhatsApp archiving as well as WeChat archiving, the introduction of new IM applications in enterprise communication surely poses a threat when viewed from a security standpoint.
When enterprise instant messaging is considered in financial firms, adequate measures must be considered to monitor phone calls and text messages made through these applications. Hence, if employees are using Signal and Telegram as an alternative for WhatsApp, for their business communication, then financial firms need to induct a tool that is capable of monitoring and recording calls and text messages in these applications. This tool must also perform Signal archiving and Telegram archiving.
Ensuring communication compliance is essential for all financial firms. There will be changes in communication channels where users will always tend to move towards a more secure instant messaging solution. If Signal and Telegram are the new potential players in the market today, then there will be other players in the future. Hence it is the responsibility of the firms to always be vigilant of the changes in these communication channels so that they can ensure regulatory compliance.
About TeleMessage
TeleMessage captures and retains mobile content, including mobile SMS messages, voice calls, and WeChat conversations from corporate or BYOD mobile phones to ensure compliance with various data protection regulations. The messages are securely and reliably retained within TeleMessage servers or forwarded to your choice archiving data storage vendor.
Our mobile archiving products securely record content from mobile carriers and mobile devices for various ownership models (BYOD, CYOD, and employer-issued). With our multiple archiving solutions, you can always find the right tools or blend for your requirements:
TeleMessage offers cross-carrier and international mobile text & calls archiving for corporate and BYOD phones. Visit our website at www.telemessage.com to learn more about our mobile archiving products.
