Popular new messaging app Telegram could be one of the main beneficiaries of Facebook’s deal to buy WhatsApp after it saw subscriptions rise by 300% immediately after the deal was announced. WhatsApp’s CEO promised today that “nothing will change” in the app. But some users are wary of their data being used to sell advertising, and are already dumping it for one of the many alternatives.
We spoke to Markus Ra of Telegram, and he confirmed to us that due to Telegram’s non-commercial nature, its popularity has skyrocketed today.
“This was a logical step for WhatsApp in view of the growing competition. Luckily, unlike WhatsApp and Viber, we will never sell our users or their data, since Telegram is not a commercial project. After the deal was announced, Telegram registrations have gone up 300%.”
It’s only fair to remember that there’s no reason to believe that WhatsApp has sold any of its user data. What is true, however, is that now that WhatsApp forms part of a larger business, its “No ads, games, gimmicks” slogan could end up compromised.
