Whatsapp Will Become Free, Companies Can Pay To Reach Users (nytimes.com)

Posted by samzenpus on Monday January 18, 2016 @10:40AM from the here's-your-exciting-daily-offers dept.

speedplane writes: The popular messaging service Whatsapp will soon become free (they previously charged $0.99 per year after the first). The troubling news is that to compensate for the lost revenue, companies will now be able to pay to contact users directly. "[Whatsapp founder] Mr. Koum said that his team was still experimenting with how such services could work, and that many companies were already using the messaging service, particularly in developing countries, to connect with mobile-savvy customers." If this smells like advertising, Whatsapp vehemently disagrees. A portion of their statement reads: "...people might wonder how we plan to keep WhatsApp running without subscription fees and if today's announcement means we're introducing third-party ads. The answer is no."

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Re:Telegram by WiPEOUT · 2016-01-18 11:06 · Score: 5, Informative

If you're going to suggest an app, Signal is the one. For one, it's open source. Second, it's backed by the EFF and a number of luminaries not the least of whom is Edward Snowden.
https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/...