WhatsApp will soon share your data with Facebook, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Facebook’s privacy grab has led to a surge in sign-ups for rival messaging services Signal and Telegram.

When Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014, WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum reiterated his company's commitment to privacy.

Six years later, Facebook is about to vacuum up all your private data, showing the world exactly why it spent $19 billion to buy WhatsApp. The big question might be: Why did Facebook wait so long? But the effect is immediate and enormous.

“In the last 72 hours alone, more than 25 million new users from around the world have joined Telegram,” Telegram told Lifewire and others on January 14 via — what else — Telegram.