Why WhatsApp wants to convince Americans to stop sending text messages
“I think I left the car unlocked, can you check?” reads a text message displayed on one of the billboards. The consequence, outlined next to the text bubble: “If your personal texts aren’t end-to-end encrypted, it’s not private.”In a Google, whose Android operating system is Apple’s biggest smartphone rival, is in the process of replacing SMS with a system known as Rich Communication Services (RCS) for its default messages app. Google WhatsApp has faced its own backlash over privacy. The company was forced to delay an update to its privacy policy last year, after confusion over how much user data it shares with Facebook prompted a mass exodus to rival messaging platforms such as Signal.Should its US push succeed, the opportunities for WhatsApp are significant. The company has rolled out business communications and digital payments in some of its biggest markets, attempting to monetize what has traditionally been a free service. And the United States is considered among the most lucrative markets in the world terms of revenue per user of online services.But entrenched texting habits and its own parent company’s missteps will likely make that an uphill battle. “Facebook has totally blown it on public trust, and so if the PR strategy in the US doesn’t work, Facebook will have themselves to blame,” Pfefferkorn said.
