After WhatsApp introduced updates earlier this year that will allow it to share users’ personal information with its parent company, Facebook, many began looking for alternatives.
While some chose in favor of Telegram, which claims that “it has not revealed a single byte of the private data” of its users, others preferred to download Signal, a platform that also emphasizes privacy and security. However, even to all these applications we provide some of our data.
What personal data do the most used messaging services collect?
Facebook Messenger
Identifiers (user and device ID)
Contact information (name, phone number, email, physical address, other user contact information).
Contacts
Shopping history
Advertising data
Interaction with the product
Financial and payment information
Search history
Browser history
Approximate and exact location
Health and fitness
User content
Usage Data
Sensitive information
Fault data
Performance data
Other diagnostic data
Other types of data
Identifiers (user and device ID)
Contact information. (phone number, email)
Contacts
Approximate location
Advertising data
Shopping history
Interaction with the product
Financial information
User content
Usage data
Failure data
Performance data
Other diagnostic data
IMessage
Identifiers (device ID)
Contact information (phone number, email)
Search history
Telegram
Identifiers (user ID)
Contact information (phone number)
Contacts
Signal
Contact information (the company ensures that the app does not link the phone number to the user’s identity)
