In a circular dated November 22 spotted by Point, the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, invited members of the government and ministerial offices to uninstall WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram from their smartphones. And this for cybersecurity issues. She then requested the deployment and installation of French messaging applications such as “Olvid” or “Tchap” on phones and computers.
Ok for the ministers but how would you react? Our readers responded to us. Opinions are divided between those who recognize the usefulness of WhatsApp and those who think it harms private security.
An “excellent means of communication”
First argument of the defenders of the app, its free. “It’s a free message and video transmission tool in all countries,” Jean-Pierre tells us. We have our son and his family in Asia, and that allows us to get news regularly.” Complicated, therefore, to say stop.
For Yann too, WhatsApp is an excellent “means of communication (…) We use the application in our sports club with several groups, according to age categories. And if tomorrow we had to stop, it would complicate things for communication between athletes,” admits the athlete.
“I use it regularly. What’s really good is especially the graphics, ease of use and usefulness. There are a lot of features,” shares Loanne. But “many other applications exist, it’s not a necessity,” admits the young woman.
“This would improve security and privacy”
Which brings us to those who would not regret the end of WhatsApp on their phone, in particular because of security and respect for privacy. “We must absolutely assume that, from the moment we transmit information through the Internet, it can be intercepted by third parties. Government and corporate data are the most sensitive. For me, all French users must use French or European solutions to avoid the theft of this data,” recommends Albert.
Louis, for his part, “has been using Signal for a long time. The service is identical to WhatsApp but without the use of personal data. “The disappearance of WhatsApp will improve security and respect for privacy, I am sure,” assures Harold.
The WhatsApp application was created in 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, two former employees of Yahoo!. Their goal was to replace SMS. WhatsApp is used by more than two billion people around the world.