(REUTERS): Millions of WhatsApp users have taken the drastic step of abandoning the app, following a poorly explained update to the terms and conditions, which would allow parent company Facebook and its divisions to collect user data.
Rival apps have gained many of these disgruntled users, with new figures shared by the UK parliament’s committee showing that Signal gained 7.5 million users in the first three weeks of the year, while Telegram gained a whopping 25 million.
However, at the beginning of January, WhatsApp was the most downloaded app in the country however by January 26th the app went down to the third position, reports Sensor Tower.
Further, data collected by an analytic firm, suggests that the popular messaging service went down from the eighth most downloaded app in the UK at the beginning of the month to the 23rd by 12 January.
After receiving backlash, the Facebook-owned messaging service clarified that the new terms of service will not compromise the privacy of user messages with friends or family in any way.
“We want to be clear that the policy update does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way. Instead, this update includes changes related to messaging a business on WhatsApp, which is optional,” said WhatsApp.
As user exodus to other apps escalated, WhatsApp announced that it will delay the implementation of its new policy until May 15.
