Whatsapp vs Telegram is running in the minds of most WhatsApp messenger users who are concerned with the new privacy policy changes. You would be sleeping under a rock if you missed the buzz that these policy changes have created in the social media space. With a global base of 2 billion users, Facebook makes interesting moves to monetize its $19 billion investment in purchasing Whatsapp. In July 2020, Facebook took the first step in this direction by giving users an option to accept such data sharing agreements and continue using the app. With the new guidelines that become effective 8th February 2021, there’s no option but “Agree” if you want to continue using the app.
It’s just a matter of time when regulators catch up and start scrutinizing Facebook’s messaging service for the legitimacy of forcing such policies on its end users while having such a high user base. Usage of social messaging saw a surge in 2020 when people were forced to work from home due to the pandemic.
WhatsApp vs Telegram
Number of Group Users
Telegram initially became a popular alternative to WhatsApp because could virtually be an unlimited number of Telegram users in a group chat (currently at 200,000 users). Whatsapp has a limitation of 256 users per group, and this is their business model.
Data Collection & Privacy policy
To take stock of what Facebook communicated that it would be collecting via Whatsapp and sharing with the Facebook app & its partners, here’s a head to head comparison of the app permissions are needed to run the two apps on your mobile:
WhatsApp: Device ID, User ID, Coarse Location, Phone Number, Email Address, Contacts, Phone logs, Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Purchase History, Payment Info, Customer Support, Crash Data, Performance Data, Diagnostic Data, Other User Content
Telegram: Contact Info, Contacts, User ID
Most users I interacted with are ok with using this data in silos (Whatsapp or Facebook separately) for customized ad targeting or improving the application. After publishing the privacy policy, Facebook’s intent seems beyond this, and that’s what has riled many.
Telegram (as per their policy) does not share data with other apps or third-party partners.
Security
There are some differences in the security offerings of Whatsapp & Telegram. Whatsapp offers end to end encryption of the chat messages while Telegram’s encryption is limited to encryption on the end user’s phone & servers (not encrypted during internet transmission). Whatsapp uses third party cloud backups which are not encrypted, while Telegram has in-built cloud storage. Both offer self-destructing messages as an option.
Payments Data
WhatsApp has rolled out payment services in several countries, and this part of the privacy policy got expanded further. Facebook says that if you use Whatsapp’s payment services, they will “process additional information about you, including payment account and transaction information.” However, WhatsApp Payments has a dedicated privacy policy in each country.
Telegram does not have a Payments platform.
Usability features
Telegram is relatively newer and includes most of WhatsApp’s functionalities, including sending text messages, videos, pictures, voice clips, audio, and files. WhatsApp’s layout and usability are better – here, it’s cleaner navigation to your chats, calls, status, and contacts. You can play with the fonts like italicize, bold, and strikethrough text in WhatsApp. This feature makes the user experience richer (than plain text).
One area in which Telegram stands out is making it easy to deactivate or delete your account & data if you decide to leave it and secret chat. It may not be the same as WhatsApp.
WhatsApp’s new privacy policy
The new Whatsapp terms and privacy policy changes are part of their stated intent to integrate with Facebook’s family of products and a broad range of services. Insights on data sharing with the parent company are clarified in this privacy policy. WhatsApp has also explicitly stated additional information on specific business interactions conducted through its messaging app. Users will have time till February 8, 2021, to accept these terms to continue using the platform.
The FAQs state that the information shared with other Facebook Companies includes the account information (like a phone number), service-related information, transaction data, and information on how you interact with others when using their services. It also collects the IP address, mobile device information, and other information mentioned in the Privacy Policy or data collected as needed with consent.
It further clarifies that when someone uses other Facebook Company products or third-party services, their terms and policies govern the use of those services or products. Given that WhatsApp has integration with features like Rooms on Facebook, this clarification was welcome for users to be aware.
WhatsApp has also explained where data resides, phone hardware & system software information collected, what happens when you delete the app, location-related information processing, etc. See more details in Terms of Service.
Here’s a clarification issued by Facebook concerning Whatsapp’s privacy policy changes.
The Verdict
Finally what’s the verdict on the debate of which one should I go for?
Telegram is the one to go for if being anonymous is critical to you or your data privacy matters, AND most of your peers think the same. But WhatsApp tends to have more features, tighter integration to other Facebook products, and has a substantially large user base. Telegram is slowly catching up with 500 million monthly active users. End of the day, it’s a battle of balancing the need for privacy with usability at the current juncture.
In early Jan 2021, Elon Musk, the founder & CEO of SpaceX / Tesla, with 42 million Twitter followers, tweeted “Use Signal” and this triggered a new alternative for WhatsApp users to consider. To choose between Singal and Telegram, that’s a discussion for another time!
What’s your preference in this whole discussion of messaging platforms?
