Kathmandu. January 26. Earlier this month, Whatsapp announced that it would introduce an update to its user data policy on January 8, stating that “some of the user data will be tracked by the parent company Facebook to offer personalized services.”

The announcement of the update caused WhatsApp to lose millions of users, who decided to shift to new messaging apps over privacy issues. Considering the outflow of users, Whatsapp initiated a ‘damage limitation campaign’ and decided to pause its new privacy updates. The pause was meant for a time to explain to its users that the new changes would be beneficial for the users. 

The users on the other hand are shifting to new apps, Signal and Telegram, believing that their private data in WhatsApp will be shared to Facebook. In response, Whatsapp through a statement announced: “We’ve heard from so many people how much confusion there is around our recent update.”

On January 7, Billionaire and youth Icon Elon Musk tweeted “Use Signal”. The tweet seemed simpler but it ignited millions of users to choose signal over WhatsApp. Signal witnessed 1.2 million downloads on the day of the tweet, the same day when WhatsApp entered the controversy. 

Whatsapp has rescheduled its calendar to carry out updates on May 15, after adequate review of the new policies.