Please don’t ask me to use WhatsApp

For several years now WhatsApp has been the de facto communication tool in Brazil. And I don’t mean it as a simple replacement for SMS, as it was originally meant. WhatsApp has creeped into every mediation between humans in that country. From manicure appointments to lab results and their analysis by the doctor, from travel agency bookings to children‘s school official communications, this application has asserted itself as basic infrastructure there. I thought Finland, where I am now based, was immune to this, but the same pattern is starting to show here as well.

There is a lot to be said about an over reliance on a private service provider (especially one based in the United States). But here I will address WhatsApp and Meta specifically.

I know people mean well when they recommend me to use this app, after all, it's free, easy to use, and all my friends are already there.

Regarding its price, maybe I'm not too versed in the subject, but I honestly don't understand the economics of paying $19 billion dollars for a company whose "customers" don't pay anything. Of course, by now everyone has heard the refrain "If you're not paying for the product, you are the product". In our tech-dependent world, that usually means only one thing: you pay for the product with your privacy.

This is not the place for me to try and convince you that privacy matters, but there are plenty of free (as in really, no-strings-attached free) products out there with less overhead. Yes, yet another app. I feel you. But hey, how many apps do you already have on your phone just to get a shopping discount or charge your car?

And when it comes to its ease of use, that might even be arguably true for now, though I wholeheartedly disagree. But WhatsApp enshittification is already well underway. Expect a much worse experience in the coming years.

That leaves me with the third reason mentioned: all of my friends are there. Unfortunately the "network effect" is on Meta's side here. This is why we were forced to use Facebook long after it had become unusable. Now, if you are using WhatsApp solely because all your friends are there, not only are you not the customer or even the product, but also you are a hostage.

So much for the reasons to use it, but how about my reasons not to use it?

I am a well educated, middle-aged, middle class, cisgender, white man, and even though I am an immigrant I still have the mindset of a privileged person. Still I cannot stomach WhatsApp's parent company, or more specifically its owner. Mark Zuckerberg is a power-seeking psychopathic sub-human character. His drive for market dominance knows no bounds. He will happily run over people's right to privacy or freedom, support authoritarian governments, or discriminate against minorities.

Think of it this way: for every message you send over WhatsApp you are donating a penny to Donald Trump himself. Or how about this: on every interaction you have with this app you are helping to curb women's homosexuals' transgender people's rights. Or this: every time you log in to any Meta account you are automatically made an accomplice of genocide. No biggy.

Granted, these subjects are not on people's minds most of the time, if ever. When you need to communicate with someone you just need a quick and easy way of doing it without having to worry about world politics. That's fair enough. I honestly don't expect anyone to take my rant above as seriously as I do. I am myself guilty of not paying too much attention to animal rights (and who knows what else?). The problem is not with Zuckerberg himself, it's with the incentive structure on which he operates.

But do bear in mind that asking me to use WhatsApp is the same thing as asking your vegan friends to eat meat. Would you do that? And would they accept it, even if it were free and all their friends were doing the same?

I think I'm not asking too much anyway. Apart from Zuck's playgrounds there are plenty of ways you can contact me: at the bottom of this page you will find an email address and my phone number, to which you can call, send SMS, or better yet: send Signal messages. Surely protecting democracies and minorities are reason enough to install yet another app?