this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2023
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Technology
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The thing is... I still wouldn't want to send private messages to a WhatsApp user, because that would mean those messages are also handled by a service I specifically meant to avoid by switching to Signal.
But then again, Signal spoke out against it anyway, precisely for that reason.
Yeah maybe, but it's important to cross message otherwise you loose against the scale effect of Whatsapps userbase
Smaller services like Signal wouldn't be forced to do it though, since they don't pass the threshold to be considered a gatekeeper.
So we'll have a situation where WhatsApp is forced to open up, but barely any of the private services will actually make use of it.
I can also see WhatsApp users being even less motivated to switch to better alternatives if everything was interoperable, so we go right back to its huge userbase being a problem anyway.
Idk, I honestly don't see this law changing much in the messaging space. Though I will never disagree with consumers having more options.
I'd like to use signal as my daily messaging App. But all my friends are on wa. If I can cross message them from signal, I will stay on signal. One less user for whatsapp.
We'll see how it plays out. Have the lawmakers even thought about if and how services have to inform users between one another about their respective TOS?
Like, I wouldn't want to connect to another service before being presented with their terms and privacy policy. Only then should I be able to make a (now informed) decision on whether I want to do it or not.
I guess it all boils down to why you use a certain service. I use Signal to avoid having my messages handled by a service that belongs to Meta. Texting with a WhatsApp user would defeat the whole point for me.
Yeah but it's not about you, it's about making the messaging app choice in the daily life more balanced for the average user. The average user doesnt care about tos or privacy. You wont get the average user to switch to signal by saying "take care of your privacy". The average user wants to send messages to their friends. Thats it. And because publicly traded companies have to grow they have to increase revenue from their services. So, monetize user data, which lawmakers could stop, increase revenue by charging a fee, which the average user doesnt want to, or show ads, no one wants to. And I guess free software has the benefit of working without the need to monetize their users. THIS is the selling point. And if you get it to work across different messaging apps, users will leave wa.