[Freak_NL]

Alternatives exists, but the network effect means that just building a better solution is not enough. In many countries even Signal can't put a dent in WhatsApp's dominance.

So even though we have alternatives like Matrix and whatnot: it doesn't matter much. The entrenched platform will persevere, and its successor is chosen not by features or user freedom, but by whatever the masses find shiny and convincing, and the investor driven budget of whatever startup-du-jour is hip at the time ­— and sometimes it just seems random.

A philanthropist could build a free, fully supported messaging platform that does everything anyone here can ask for as an act of altruism tomorrow, but succeeding in dislodging the incumbent solution can only happen if that platform fucks up so greatly that a mass exodus is possible. And that means a real royal fuck up of epic proportions; not just gathering more data (e.g., Facebook/WhatsApp), because the masses don't care — they want what they have now, and any change is too inconvenient to deal with.