Why you should delete WhatsApp today
“I already published this piece of writing a whole year ago exactly when the infamous messaging app updated its terms of services in an attempt to explain to people why they should actually give a damn about their data. The funny thing is that recently Facebook rebranded itself and changed its name to Meta (Meta data harnessing) which is, as you may or might not know, a really clear indication of how bad the situation is. In this regard, I see it necessary to re-share that article with the hope that someone somewhere would understand the depths of the situation.”
The new terms and conditions of WhatsApp oblige users forcefully to accept sharing their personal information (data, discussions, groups, videos, images, chats,…. everything) with its mother company, Facebook.
When Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014, everyone was waiting on how the former would get their 16 billion dollars back. Now, WhatsApp is the richest data mine that Facebook has ever landed on.
Facebook’s business model is based on collecting data from its users to improve and empowers its AI; an AI that works independently from people, and even its developers cannot control it. The main objective of this AI is to use that data to improve its targeted ads & news.
Facebook (and Google) already faced many trials for abusing the use of the data they collect. The most famous of all is the one regarding misleading & rigging the American election.
Normally, when you do not pay for using a product, you are actual product being used. This means that we, the users, are the product being sold by Facebook and its products (Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp) to both the higher & lowest bidder.
You might think that your data is unimportant and worthless, but it’s not. When an AI knows too much about you, it can predict your next moves based on fathoming the way you think (go ask the world champion in chess how he got destroyed by a simple program not even an AI). AND, if it can predict how you think and react, it becomes easier for it to control this way of thinking. (Don’t feel embarrassed because even the people who created this stuff cannot actually escape this fate, so they ended up not using it)
Everything you see on your feed is fully customizable according to the data Facebook has on you. This means that the news you see on social media are not facts and are far from being objective, which is sick.
The point here is that Facebook is already a monster, and agreeing to the new terms of WhatsApp means giving them access to more sensitive data which is absolutely stupid. (no one listened actually, and billions of people are still using it)
I encourage everyone to not accept these terms and to uninstall WhatsApp at once. I know it’s hard, and I know most of your contacts are on that platform, but it is time to show these assholes that they don’t own us.
There are plenty of options and alternatives out there (personally, I moved to other messaging apps like Signal & telegram which are way more secure). We, the users, have the ultimate power to stop this unethical abuse of our data. Actually, we gave them this power, and we are totally able to take it away from them. It is time to stop feeding these tech giants our intimate data.
If you’re still doubting the words of a stranger on the web and think that this is one of those conspiracy theory advocates, I encourage you to make a simple google search on the matter and look at what the creators of these algorithms say about it.
Go watch the fantastic documentary “The Social Dilemma” which is made by the founders of most social media platforms that we use, and see it for yourself.
We have the power to stop this bullshit,
Spread the words, the power is in your hands.
Thank you
