Expert Warns Privacy-Concerned Users To Avoid Facebook Messenger

The popular Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp continues to face blowback this week for an updated privacy agreement that will require users to consent to sharing data with Facebook. This proposed change has even caused many WhatsApp users to switch to Signal and other messaging competitors. However, one tech expert wrote in Forbes this week that the whole controversy is only distracting from how bad Facebook Messenger is, and that people should really be leaving that platform instead.

“In reality, the WhatsApp debacle has distracted attention away from just how bad Messenger’s invasion of your privacy is,” cybersecurity expert Zak Doffman wrote in Forbes. “We all know Facebook makes its living from our data—that’s how we pay for its ‘free’ services. But there does need to be a limit. If we find ourselves in a place where Facebook says we’ll take everything we can get our hands on, and we say, yes, that’s fine, then what does that say about us and the value we place on our own privacy.”

Doffman has a point; Messenger collects far more user data than other messaging apps, and doesn’t currently feature end-to-end encryption (though Facebook wants to ultimately implement it, against lawmakers’ wishes). As it stands right now, Messenger is by far the least secure messaging option for users — much less so than WhatsApp.




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