Why I canceled my whatsapp account just an hour ago

An hour ago = October 16, 2019 at 12 am.

That tiny nice application connecting you with your parents, friends and enemies. I have been using whatsapp extensively - need here to say, a very nice app, very well balanced and - FREE. What does "FREE" means, well you have to read the terms&conditions and to accept them.

How do you think whatsapp (and facebook, the owner group) will finance such a nice app?

What is the real "product" here?

The real product (which is sold for money) is what you write / share / exchange, your mood - it is YOU.

"O dear"! What should I do now? All my friends use whatsapp !

As long as you agree with whatsapp/facebook privacy policy - taking your data and selling them repeatedly - nothing to be done. In case you do *not* anymore agree with that policy ("we care about your privacy" ... ) - switch to another application (not belonging to the same group).

Switching among different groups makes your profiling difficult. A strategy I often used was to use two or more apps at once and to multiplex communications among those, making the analytical machine "learning" of those texts simply more difficult - introducing a kind of "noise".

Of course at some point in time you are tired, want just to exchange some "kisses" with your friend and ... there it catches you! So my advice here is to switch to an app which is really "SAFE" and of course - to pay for it!

Would you prefer to be "sold" again and again (without even knowing it...) or to pay once for an app, finance that company and be on the safe side of (communication) life?

Yes - That is all for today. Do what is right for you.

Yours Fabio Ricci from semweb.

PS: meanwhile I suggest you too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ0josfRzp4 (in English after a short German intro) where Prof. Zuboff underlines similar generic threats and I would suggest you also to erase instagram, tiktok, facebook from all your devices together with any metadata they might share on your devices.