This. Some people just don't realize how pervasive and essential WhatsApp is in some countries, mine included.

I'd much rather use Signal but that's not realistic.

But isn't it a timebomb waiting to blow up eventually? Like, Meta fucks something up with it and there is nothing you can do.

IIRC South Korea used to be fully depedent on a horrendous AcriveX applet running only in Internet Explorer for all their online services, yet they eventually managed to get rid of it. It should be possible here as well.