Recent shifts in user preferences, prompted by privacy concerns surrounding changes to WhatsApp’s terms and conditions, are also leading to increased interest in end-to-end encrypted email services.

In the past few weeks, two email providers based in Europe, ProtonMail and Tutanota, have both experienced a rise in new user registrations.

Andy Yen, the founder of ProtonMail, stated that his service has observed a threefold increase in sign-ups for its end-to-end encrypted webmail platform “in recent weeks.” Simultaneously, Germany’s Tutanota reported a doubling of usage following the circulation of concerns regarding WhatsApp’s updated terms and the sharing of data with Facebook.

“We are pleased to welcome a significant number of new users to our platform. We predicted back in 2017 that a greater focus on privacy was beginning, and events have consistently validated that assessment. Individuals globally are gaining a deeper understanding of the importance of privacy and are no longer willing to contribute to surveillance capitalism or allow large technology companies, such as Facebook, to exploit their data,” explained Tutanota co-founder Matthias Pfau in a public statement.

While the fully end-to-end encrypted messaging application Signal has not revealed the number of new users it has gained recently, Brian Acton, a co-founder of WhatsApp who joined Signal after leaving Facebook in 2018, indicated earlier this week that usage has “exploded.”

There are numerous reports from new users of the app—which promotes itself with the slogan “say ‘hello’ to privacy”—joining the platform.

Personally, I have observed several contacts in the U.K., including former neighbors, a university acquaintance, someone I once met on a dating app, my previous landlord, and two former colleagues, joining what was previously a small group of privacy-focused individuals. Additionally, my colleague Manish Singh, based in India, shared three screenshots showing sign-ups his Signal app had notified him of within “the last few days.”

Telegram, a well-established alternative to WhatsApp, has also reported a substantial increase in new users in recent weeks.

The platform provides end-to-end encryption as an option for individual chats (through its “Secret Chats” feature), although, unlike Signal, it is not the standard setting. However, its founder, Pavel Durov, has been a consistent and outspoken critic of Facebook’s handling of user data and privacy. This reputation appears to be attracting new users.

“I’ve heard that Facebook has an entire team dedicated to understanding Telegram’s popularity,” Durov wrote on his Telegram Channel on January 8, aiming to leverage concerns about the impending WhatsApp terms of service changes. “Imagine dozens of employees working on this issue full-time.”

“I’m happy to save Facebook tens of millions of dollars and freely share our secret: Respect your users,” he added.

Durov followed up a few days later, announcing that Telegram’s user base had exceeded 500 million monthly active users in the first week of the year—with 25 million new users joining “in the last 72 hours alone.”

“These new users came from all over the world—38% from Asia, 27% from Europe, 21% from Latin America, and 8% from MENA,” he continued, suggesting that approximately 6% of the new sign-ups originated from North America (where there have also been reports of supporters of former President Trump turning to Telegram as an alternative platform to organize protests, following the suspension of accounts and pages linked to violence and insurrection on mainstream social networks).

“This represents a significant increase compared to last year, when we averaged 1.5 million new users per day,” he stated, adding: “We’ve experienced surges in downloads before throughout our seven-year history of protecting user privacy. But this time feels different. People are no longer willing to trade their privacy for free services. They are no longer willing to be controlled by tech monopolies that believe they can operate without consequence as long as their apps maintain a large user base.”

Durov posted another update today—reporting that sign-ups have “only accelerated” (and welcoming several additional heads of state to the platform).

This widespread migration of users to WhatsApp alternatives has prompted Facebook to launch a public relations effort this week, addressing what it describes as “rumors” surrounding the upcoming terms of service changes.

A Facebook spokesperson stated that there are no changes to WhatsApp’s data-sharing practices anywhere in the world with this update—explaining that it is intended to provide users with clearer, more detailed information about how and why the company uses their data, and also to explain how businesses can utilize WhatsApp to connect with their customers.

However, Facebook’s challenge lies in its history of eroding user trust regarding privacy. Years of broken promises are now having consequences as users seek alternatives—searching for a platform whose business model is not based on exploiting their attention.

Regardless of the specifics of the latest WhatsApp terms of service change, the fundamental truth remains that Facebook is an advertising technology company. And it compromised WhatsApp users’ privacy—when it reversed its stance on data-sharing with Facebook shortly after investing $19 billion to increase the number of users for its surveillance-based business.

Therefore, end-to-end encryption in the hands of Mark Zuckerberg’s advertising enterprise cannot provide the same level of privacy protection as a non-profit application like Signal. Furthermore, all those “personalized” Facebook features—whether they are stickers, filters, lenses, or other enhancements—are merely distractions from the underlying reality that Facebook generates revenue by compromising user privacy through an interconnected network of apps and tools designed to track internet users and link digital activity to identifiable individuals.

The technical obscurity that once concealed Facebook’s surveillance practices is now gradually being exposed. And it is becoming increasingly clear that many people are deeply dissatisfied with what they are discovering.