I just deleted my WhatsApp account despite it being the best (only) way to get information from some groups.

Having previosuly deleted my Instagram account (and not having had a Facebook account for several years now) I think I’m finally 100% Facebook free.

I don’t trust Facebook with my personal data and it doesn’t get much more personal than my address book. Not only does it contain the names of everyone I know (or used to know), but for many of them it includes their birthdate, phone number(s), email address(es), home or work address and more.

For a while I tried to compromise by turning off access to my Contacts for WhatsApp but it wouldn’t let me start a new message thread with that off, not even by typing in the phone number manually.

I’m under no illusion that Facebook already has all that information and more (from other people’s address books) and I know they maintain shadow profiles on people who don’t have an active Facebook profile but I refuse to willingly give them that information myself.