Fox News contributor Joe Concha on Parler’s censorship by major technology companies, causing the site to go offline and discuss social media bias.
The private messaging app Signal maintained its position from Monday to Tuesday as the # 1 free app on the App Store and Google Play.
| Ticker | Safety | Last | change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 128.80 | -0.18 | -0.14% |
| GOOGL | ALPHABET INC. | 1,737.43 | -18.86 | -1.07% |
The app obtained about 1.3 million global downloads from the App Store on Monday, according to the Apptopia app’s data and analytics website.
“We estimate that Signal has been installed 63.1 million times over its lifetime. Signal has been breaking its own daily download records since Saturday,” Adam Blacker, vice president of Apptopia Insights, told FOX Business.
Signal is an encrypted messaging application, which means that the company cannot access any messages or calls made by users in the application.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT SIGNAL, THE SAFE MESSAGE APPLICATION THAT IS SURFING IN POPULARITY
“These kinds of changes in messaging apps and social media are not uncommon,” said Amir Ghodrati, director of market insights at app analytics firm App Annie, in a statement. “Due to the nature of social apps and because the core functionality involves communicating with others, their growth can often happen very quickly, based on current events.”
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He added that “users spend consistently more time on messaging apps than on social media apps; 67% more time on average from H1 2020. Messaging apps that provide privacy features have seen the greatest growth in engagement on H1 2020. These apps averaged 30% more active users than alternatives. “
App Signal (Credit: Signal) (Signal)
On January 4, Signal ranked 750 in the overall ranking of downloads in the United States, according to App Annie. The number continued to jump until the app reached No. 1 in total US downloads on Sunday.
The app has benefited in popularity after people like Edward Snowden tweeted about it in 2015, with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, recently telling his followers to use the service while trying to access Facebook.
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The Telegram encrypted messaging app also rose to second place among free apps on Google Play and the App Store on Tuesday.
The two apps came to the spotlight recently after some people using Facebook’s encrypted messaging app, WhatsApp, expressed concern about a privacy update scheduled to launch in February and first announced in October.
The buttons of Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Messaging and other applications on the screen of an iPhone. (iStock)
The update states that companies that communicate with WhatsApp users via the app, phone or email “can see” what users are saying and can use that information for their own marketing purposes, which may include advertising on Facebook “if users choose to share this information.
| Ticker | Safety | Last | change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FB | FACEBOOK INC. | 251.09 | -5.75 | -2.24% |
WhatsApp later clarified the update in a January message, saying Facebook will not have access to any of its users’ private messages or calls.
“We want to make it clear that updating the policy does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way. Instead, this update includes changes related to sending messages to a company on WhatsApp, which is optional, and provides more transparency about how we collect and use data, “said the app in a blog post.
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WhatsApp ranked 27th and 21st in total US downloads on January 3 and 7, respectively, until it reached 38th on Sunday.
WhatsApp said Facebook will not have access to private messages or calls from its users, shared locations, contacts or groups. Users can also set their messages to disappear if they wish.
Big tech companies have made a series of policy changes and updates since Wednesday’s Capitol riots in an effort to crack down on violent or conspiratorial rhetoric on their platforms, making uncensored social apps like Parler, Gab, Signal and Telegram saw peak downloads.
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Chris Ciaccia of Fox News contributed to this report.