this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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I have not found any news article on this on a whim. Because my friends and family, I need to use Facebook Messenger, and Messenger Lite was a OK client - lightweight, no unnecessary features, etc., compared to the regular Messenger app.

Now I'm a little torn, having a Meta app on my phone is already bad, but having to downgrade to the bloated Messenger app? Not sure I will make a change. What are your thoughts?

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[–] Zuberi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 40 points 1 year ago (7 children)
[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 24 points 1 year ago (4 children)
[–] Zuberi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Texting still exists.

Being spied on by facebook, microsoft, and google is not worth the risk to me personally.

Again, who tf uses messenger?

[–] sznio@beehaw.org 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Again, who tf uses messenger?

The entire nation of Poland

[–] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] CmdrShepard@lemmy.one 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wait you're not an entire nation are you?

[–] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 year ago

I just like to be proud of improving digital space around me

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You'd rather be spied on by your carrier.... Got it.

[–] Zuberi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Better them than companies who advertise to me directly

I don't use either one, for very obvious reasons

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

Fair enough.

Personally, I don't like using 30 year old technology to communicate. I avoid phone calls and I generally avoid SMS and it's derivatives.

I work in IT and generally demand more from my messaging apps. I still avoid FB like the plague though.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Carrier can’t spy on you if iMessage and signal!

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Which are both not SMS/texting. I know iMessage falls back to SMS if the number doesn't have iMessage, which is where the carrier spying comes in.

Instead for iMessage, it's Apple spying, and for signal it's...... Shrug

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I trust iMesssge’s e2e and Apple’s privacy a fuckovalot more than anything Facebook has ever made.

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

That's fine. I trust Google's chat app more than SMS, and others, it's all personal preference. The point of my comment was to demonstrate that no matter what you're using, someone has your data and is likely selling it.

If you trust apple enough to use their service, all the power to you. If you trust signal/telegram/element/whatever, that's cool too. But no matter what service you're using, if it's a free public service, your data is the product. It is, in all likelihood, being sold to someone somewhere.

It's a personal choice for how much risk you're willing to accept on that front. Bluntly, I don't think anyone should trust FB or any of suckerberg's properties. Everyone else is varying levels of shit. Some much worse than others.... The decisions made beyond that point are personal.

And frankly, if someone almost exclusively uses FB messenger, it says to me that they don't give any shits about their data or what happens to it. Everything else, meh. There's good and bad from most companies, some are doing better (signal, as an example, seems to be doing pretty good), others, not so great.... Meh.

[–] AndreTelevise@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In our country, texting (through the built-in Messenger app) is mostly done as an emergency measure, as most people here use Meta's other messaging app, WhatsApp.

[–] csolisr@communities.azkware.net 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ask them to go physically to your house if they ever need to tell you something urgent. If they refuse to, good riddance

[–] cnnrduncan@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh ya I'll just tell my grandparents to drive 10-12 hours to get to the other side of the island every time they want to talk to me or see my face

[–] viq@social.hackerspace.pl 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

Incredibly based grandparents

[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Considering I live 2000 miles away from them and do not want them randomly showing up at my door, no thanks lol.

[–] regalia 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They all have phone numbers you can text and they don't need to install another app or sign up for anything at least. But I understand when they prefer it and you have a fb account anyways.

[–] cnnrduncan@beehaw.org 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Good luck sending photos or holding a video call with the scant 1100 bits provided by an SMS message...

[–] worsedoughnut@lemdro.id 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] cnnrduncan@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

AFAIK that unfortunately requires using Google Messages (or moving overseas)

[–] worsedoughnut@lemdro.id 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I believe they've (Google) been somewhat successful in convincing carriers / 3rd party OS devs like Samsung to start implementing RCS in their own messaging apps. There's even a 3rd party app on iOS that can use it now.

[–] regalia 1 points 1 year ago

Definitely not. Devs have been asking for an RCS API in Android for ages, and Google hasn't added it.

[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Sharing media over MMS is a garbage experience. I would need to convince them to use something reasonable, which is a lost cause.

[–] roadkill@kbin.social 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Who tf uses messenger

Facebook Messenger is the 2nd largest chat/messaging client behind Whatsapp, also a Meta service.

Over 3 billion users combined.

So, to answer your question: "Nearly everybody."

[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 6 points 1 year ago

Over 3 billion users combined.

So, to answer your question: "Nearly everybody."

That's overly dramatic, we're over 8 billion already... so it's "Nearly half of everybody" 😜

[–] Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Facebook is the main social media in Africa. It's not a bommer thing there, everyone use it.

[–] Zuberi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

Africa makes more sense. Imperialist nations want to influence the entire continent if possible.

USA, China, and Russia are all vying over the global-south like vultures

[–] JWBananas@startrek.website 6 points 1 year ago

At least a billion people

[–] Kazumara@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Australians apparently. That's what my cousins said as the explanation for why their family chat was on Facebook.

[–] dan@upvote.au 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Messenger is the most popular messaging app in Australia by far. #2 is Apple/Facetime (which is about equal with WhatsApp in terms of market share) but there's a huge gap between #1 and #2.

[–] kilgore_trout@feddit.it 4 points 1 year ago

Living in western Europe I would have said no one, but in most of central and eastern Europe is strictly necessary to reach anyone.

[–] mihor@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Only the stupidest of humanity.

[–] Markaos@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago

Well, there goes central Europe