Disclaimer: this article replaces the one I had originally planned, because I noticed something important that caught my attention. Despite the title, this is not about privacy. If you landed here attracted by the title, at least read the conclusions at the end.

As you probably know, WhatsApp has recently updated its privacy policy. The news triggered a massive exodus of users towards alternative messaging apps. Bad idea—really bad.

Privacy Policy

A privacy policy is supposed to explain how a service processes personal data—especially in Europe, where GDPR applies. I say “supposed to” because the reality is often more complex.

To me, the privacy policy is a litmus test of how much a company truly cares about data protection. Medium-to-large companies, offering multiple services, should update their policies often: laws change, technologies evolve, partnerships shift, and services (hopefully) become safer and more user-friendly over time.

WhatsApp has updated its privacy policy several times , in 2016, 2019, 2020, and again in 2021. For European users, nothing dramatically new has changed. If you want to dive deeper into the legal side, I suggest Altroconsumo , Cybersecurity360 , and Agenda Digitale .

One crucial point, though: WhatsApp falls under U.S. surveillance laws and therefore must grant access to personal data—even of non-U.S. citizens—regardless of where that data is stored. This has always been true. Nothing has changed.

Finally, based on my experience, privacy policies never fully reflect reality. Processes are often undocumented, details omitted, mistakes left in. The bigger the company, the bigger the gap. That’s why I call them litmus tests: if a company cares about data, processes and technologies evolve, and so should their privacy policies.

Manipulation of People

Here’s the real issue.

As I said, little has changed. WhatsApp was subject to U.S. surveillance law before, and it still is. If that was a problem today, it was already a problem last month.

And yet, a huge number of people uninstalled WhatsApp and moved to Signal or Telegram—not based on facts, but on an emotional wave of fear, amplified by media noise and viral social posts. This is THE PROBLEM.

I personally received messages full of false claims, with no references or sources—crafted solely to spread fear. Classic fake news. And fake news has a dual purpose: it manipulates emotions, and it censors dialogue (by shutting down critical thinking).

This fear-driven messaging successfully convinced millions of people to take action without asking themselves if it made sense. That’s manipulation, not choice.

As Pavel Durov shared, Telegram gained 25 million users in just 72 hours. 27% were Europeans—6.7 million people switching platforms in three days, not out of rational analysis, but because of emotional contagion.

Free Will

A wise teacher once said: given an event, free will lies in choosing the emotion with which we respond to it. The obvious consequence: if I can manipulate your emotions around an event, you’ll believe you’re choosing freely, while in reality you’re acting exactly as I designed.

If we binge-watch a fearmongering video and let emotions drive our decisions, free will disappears.

Threat Modeling

This is the real threat we should worry about: the manipulation of our perception.

Before rushing into a new messaging app, we need to ask ourselves: who am I entrusting my information to, and what kind of data are they really collecting?

If you’ve never done such an exercise, try now:

• List the threats of using WhatsApp.
• Rank them by severity.
• Then decide if switching makes sense—and to what.

Only then should you look at resources like this messaging comparison table .

Privacy Protection

If your concern is broader—the constant surveillance by almost any online service—brace yourself. It’s a long, steep road. And no, deleting a single app won’t solve it. But we’ll have the chance to discuss that another time.

Conclusions

For European users, nothing substantial has changed with WhatsApp’s privacy policy. If privacy is the issue—it was already there. If trust is the issue—it was already broken.

But that’s not the point.

I deliberately used current news, a sensitive topic, and a catchy title to grab your attention—just like the manipulation I described. The difference is that my goal was to make you aware of the mechanism.

Two kinds of readers may have landed here:

• Regular followers (thank you): I hope you still found a fresh perspective.
• Worried WhatsApp users: I hope this helped you see how easily fear can drive actions, and why structured thinking—like threat modeling—is the real defense.

Greater awareness and critical thinking don’t just make individuals safer—they also strengthen companies and digital ecosystems.