HONG KONG – WhatsApp users around the world concerned about the company’s changing data privacy policies are flocking to rival messaging apps like Signal and Telegram.
In Hong Kong, some are opting for an alternative that reminds them of their childhood – before algorithms, Big Tech and viral disinformation.
ICQ was a groundbreaking Internet messaging service in the mid-1990s and subsequently used on large PCs for dial-up. It was a precursor to AOL Instant Messenger, and was last in vogue when the TV show “Friends” was at its peak and PalmPilots was at the forefront.
It has been modernized over the years and is now an app for smartphones. Lately it has skyrocketed the Hong Kong app charts, with downloads increasing 35-fold in the week ending January 12.
“It reminds me of my childhood memories,” said 30-year-old risk consultant Anthony Wong, who used ICQ when he was in elementary school. He has since hooked up with more than two dozen friends on the platform, after having been somewhat troubled this month by a privacy policy update by WhatsApp that left certain data on the servers of Facebook Inc. can be saved.