3 ms·
I have spent a lot of the last five years traveling the MENA region by bike, and the random local people I meet overwhelmingly want to exchange WhatsApp contact
by OfSanguineFire 3y ago
I have spent a lot of the last five years traveling the MENA region by bike, and the random local people I meet overwhelmingly want to exchange WhatsApp contact info (and are shocked to discover I don't have it, as I use only Signal). Sure, Telegram is around too, but WhatsApp's position is strong, and in any event Telegram is not a locally developed solution.
Your claim that people trust Telegram more is a stretch. I daresay the masses in the Global South think little about where their apps come from and are poorly informed about tech matters, just like in the Global North.
- csomar 3y agoTelegram is now based in Dubai.
- OfSanguineFire 3y agoAs a legal formality. A journalist who visited the registered address in Dubai fairly recently found no one at home. The app is honestly regarded as a Russian product.
- logicchains 3y agoWhatsApp hasn't currently given them any reason to switch. If Meta decided to censor text supporting Palestine on WhatsApp, as it has just decided to do on Instagram and Facebook, you can bet most of them would ditch it for Telegram.