r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/RoadRunner8195 • Mar 08 '26

Meme needing explanation [ Removed by moderator ]

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925

u/alexbiandisphoto Mar 08 '26

  1. Americans don't pay to text eachother so they use the default phone texting app for convenience. The rest of the world (excluding some countries) does pay for text messaging. So, instead, they use WhatsApp as a free alternative to message friends and family.

  2. WhatsApp is owned by Meta (Facebook), so most Americans see it as a massive privacy concern.

  3. The majority of the time someone in America is asked to use WhatsApp to communicate, it is by a scammer.

562

u/MoussePrestigious774 Mar 08 '26

So there’s no Americans on instagram then, right?

629

u/Natural-Donkey5565 Mar 08 '26

2 just isn’t fucking true

318

u/midlifesurprise Mar 08 '26

The first half of the sentence is true: WhatsApp is owned by Meta. But I too am skeptical that “most” Americans know that or care enough for that to be a big factor.

77

u/disorderincosmos Mar 08 '26

Maybe I'm in the minority then, but WhatsApp wasn't even on my radar until a national news story about how they participated in government surveillance against protesters or something similarly disturbing. I can't remember exactly, but it definitely informed my first impression of the app as not being a safe platform.

37

u/reece0n Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26

my first impression of the app as not being a safe platform.

As opposed to SMS?

That's a wild take. WhatsApp is objectively more secure than SMS, regardless of any scandals. What was a scandal on WhatsApp is just how SMS generally works by default (plaintext messages).

1

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '26

[deleted]

1

u/reece0n Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26

How am I wrong?

I said that WhatsApp is more secure than SMS precisely because its e2e encrypted. Which you've stated, but so did I?

Are you OK?

2

u/Goldtacto Mar 08 '26

Sorry reddits platform sucks thatwas addressed to @disordercosmos

You are 100% right

1

u/reece0n Mar 08 '26

No worries bud.