Al Marsad Newspaper – Tech News: The messaging apps Telegram and Signal witnessed a sudden increase in demand after the competing WhatsApp’s updated terms of service raised eyebrows on social media.
WhatsApp, which uses encryption technology Signal, set new conditions on Wednesday, asking users to agree to allow Facebook and its affiliates to collect user data, including phone number and location.
While some privacy activists have questioned Twitter about the movement to accept data collection or exit the service, and they suggested that users switch to applications such as Telegram and Signal.
Signal’s popularity skyrocketed on Thursday after it was mentioned by American businessman and CEO of Tesla Elon Musk, who owns one of the most followed accounts on Twitter, along with Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter.
He saw a big jump in new sign-ups after Musk’s tweet advising his followers to use the privacy-focused app, following concerns about WhatsApp’s new privacy policy.
More than 100,000 users have installed Signal via app stores in Google and Apple in the past two days, while Telegram has received nearly 2.2 million downloads, according to data analytics company Sensor Tower.
Signal posted a tweet explaining that it has become the best free app on the App Store in India, Austria, France, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong and Switzerland.
Use Signal
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021
