My spicy hot take is that I would use SMS.
Some facts:
- Neither WhatsApp nor SMS protect metadata.
- WhatsApp’s flagging system breaks E2EE. This is especially relevant in group chats, because you have to trust every single member, which of course becomes more difficult the more there are.
- Because of this, WhatsApp employs about 1000 moderators whose job is to review messages. Do companies like Signal who make products which are actually secure do this? No.
Additionally, my theory is: Metadata is the only relevant information which trackers and other people who want your data actually care about.
Given all of this, I would prefer my metadata to be collected by carriers with no vested interest in monetizing said data, and who have no need to keep that metadata for long periods of time (typically carriers retain such data for ~1 year); instead of by Facebook which has a vested interest in both retaining that metadata forever, and building dark profiles of every person on their platform connecting all those relationships together.
Don’t use Facebook products.
(Of course in reality I’d use neither one lol)
Obligatory addendum that if you don’t care about Facebook tracking you, then it hardly matters either way, but you should care about Facebook tracking you, I care about Facebook tracking me, and the primary demographic of Privacy Guides is people avoiding big tech companies, so… yeah. Don’t use Facebook products.