[woweeeee]

  WhatsApp

You know that's still Facebook, rrriiiight?

[sp332]

True, but it does have end-to-end encryption so their ability to leak or abuse your data is a lot more limited.

[black_puppydog]

I doubt they'd need the word "coffee" to infer what's happening when said message gets sent. Who sends it and to whom would be just enough thank you very much...

[soziawa]

But they get all your location data. They'll know that you met for coffee.

[sp332]

Is it necessary to give them location data to use the app?

[soziawa]

They'll know through your IP.

[vorticalbox]

they will know that this IP sent this much data to that IP but not what was inside it.

Your ISP knows the same when using a web site via HTTPS. They can see you send a request to the website but not what it contained.

You could also use a VPn or TOR if you want to hide your IP.

[soziawa]

And they'll know who you contacted and when. That allows for a lot of things to be guessed. Especially with hundreds of thousands of messages per user available to them.

Yeah, but my ISP has to follow the local laws and I can easily switch ISPs if I dislike my current one. Try that with Facebook.

Yeah, I might use a VPN but I'd also have to force all my contacts to use one as well.

[drukenemo]

As said by others, there are differences. Also, I set Whatsapp to never receive my location data.

But yeah, the networking effect is real. Whatsapp is what everyone uses, so far it seems like a decent compromise based on end-to-end encryption.

[iamjaredwalters]

The data may ultimately belong to Facebook but Whatsapp is not the same as Facebook.

[soziawa]

But everything is made by Facebook, the only difference is branding. It's like saying that Facebook Messenger only belongs to Facebook but isn't Facebook.