HONG KONG – WhatsApp users around the world who are concerned about changing the company’s data privacy policy are approaching rival messaging applications such as Signal and Telegram.
In Hong Kong, some choose an alternative that reminds them of their childhood – before algorithms, Big Tech and viral misinformation.
ICQ was a pioneering internet messaging service in the mid-1990s, then used on large dial-up PCs. It was a forerunner of AOL Instant Messenger and was the latest in fashion when the TV show “Friends” was in full swing and PalmPilots were the latest generation.
It has been modernized over the years, and is now a smartphone app. Recently, the charts of applications in Hong Kong have increased, and downloads have increased 35 times in the week ending January 12.
“It reminds me of my childhood memories,” said Anthony Wong, a 30-year-old risk consultant who used ICQ when he was in high school. Since then, he has connected with more than two dozen friends on the platform, after some wasted this month on an update of the privacy policy by WhatsApp, which would allow the storage of data on the parent servers of Facebook Inc.