WhatsApp: should it stay or should it go?

Messenger WhatsApp: should it stay or should it go?

Published on 03.02.2021 by Yannick Küffer, Digital Commerce Consultant, Post CH Ltd

The WhatsApp messenger service is popular and widely used, but it hasn't been without controversies over the past few years. Now Facebook, the company behind WhatsApp, has changed the terms of service, and people aren't happy. Tell us your opinion in our survey!

WhatsApp is without a doubt the most widely-used messenger service in Switzerland and despite accusations levelled at the company of bad data protection practices, it has remained popular.

But now, it looks like the company might have gone too far. Users of the service have until 8 February to agree to the new terms of use, otherwise it will no longer be available to them.

After deadline extension, the question of data disclosure remains

Currently, the company is backtracking slightly. Users will have three months to consider the new conditions of use and accept them, but the fundamental problem of sharing data with third parties remains–especially with the company's parent firm, Facebook.

Competitors are growing

It seems Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, also thinks that WhatsApp has gone too far. He succinctly called upon his followers to "use Signal". Messenger services that position themselves as more secure alternatives that take data protection more seriously, such as Signal or Threema, have been booming over the past few days. Signal has had to extend its server capacities.

Yannick Küffer, Digital Commerce Consultant, Post CH Ltd

Yannick Küffer is a Digital Commerce Consultant at Swiss Post’s Digital Commerce Competence Center. In this role, he supports retailer customers in developing their level of digital maturity by providing strategic advice relating to digitization and designing solutions.

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