Whatsapp new privacy policy may boomerang benefitting rival Signal

The wildly popular messaging app, Whatsapp has come under strong international criticism after it revealed its new data privacy policy, The new update tells its users to accept the new policy before a February 8 deadline or face stoppage of services. What is Whatsapp's new data privacy policy? Under the new policy Whatsapp will share user data with Facebook companies—-a move that major commercial implications.

In contrast, Signal is free from milking user data for profit–at least not on the scale of Whatsapp of the future. Unsurprisingly, people have started migrating to the Signal app . According to the latest data, more than one crore people have downloaded the Signal app on Google Play Store. A strict adherence to privacy seems to be major reason to shift to the lesser known app. For instance, unlike WhatsApp, the Signal Admin must send an invite to an individual to be included in a group, which can be accepted or declined. It has been claimed that the user's IP address is protected in it.

Signal's surge in numbers can also be attributed to Elon Musk. In a tweet, Musk, the world's richest man and CEO of Tesla, posted that he uses the Signal app, not WhatsApp. In India top entrepreneurs, PhonePe's co-founder and chief executive Sameer Nigam, Paytm founder and chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma, and Kavin Bharti Mittal, founder of Hike, have also praised the signal app. However, Cred's Kunal Shah however had a differing view, saying that "Network effects is like a religion. Most people like to stay in what they were born in". Nevertheless, Signal has given Whatsapp a wake up call, though the older app is assuring its consumers that encryption will ensurethat user data is not compromised. ..