APWashington Hispanic:
Encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram saw a significant increase in downloads from Apple and the Google app store, on the other hand, Facebook-owned WhatsApp, is seeing a decline in growth following a failure that forced the company to clarify updates. Privacy sent to users
Mobile app analytics firm Sensor Tower said Wednesday that Signal had 17.8 million app downloads from Apple and Google in the weeks 5-12 January, a 61-fold increase from just 285,000 the week before, the app Telegram. The most popular messaging app for people around the world, it achieved 15.7 million downloads between January 5-12, or double that of 7.6 million downloads the previous week.
WhatsApp has surpassed 10.6 million downloads, compared with 12.7 million the previous week.
Experts believe the change could reflect the number of conservative social media users looking for alternatives to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and the now-closed right-wing Parler site. Nald Trump last week and tightened enforcing laws on incitement and hate speech.
Parler, for his part, was ripped off the internet after Apple and Google banned him from their app stores for failing to sift through the taunt.Amazon cuts Parler from its cloud hosting service. Ting Experts fear these moves could lead to more ideological splits and mask frenzy in the dark corners of the internet, making it harder to censor and control.
WhatsApp hasn’t been keeping it up to its own, recently telling users that if they disagree with the new privacy policy before February 8th, they’ll be eliminated. The announcement cites information that WhatsApp shares with Facebook, which is not entirely new. But may affect some users in that way
Confusion over the complicated notifications by Facebook’s privacy history prompted WhatsApp to clarify the update to users this week, the company said the update. “This does not affect the privacy of your messages to friends or family in any way,” added that policy changes were needed to allow users to message businesses on WhatsApp. How we collect and use information, ”the company said.
WhatsApp remains the third most popular messaging app, and so far there is no evidence of a massive migration.Sensor Tower estimates that Signal has been installed around the world about 58.6 million times since 2014. Over that same period, Telegram had an estimated 755.2 million installs and 5.6 billion times WhatsApp, almost eight times more than Telegram.
