I feel broken today.
I had to make a new #WhatsApp account. I did not want to make a new account there, even with a different phone number, but I had to.
I was told by my father's spouse that my choice to delete my WhatsApp account was insane. She argued plenty about how it's an important tool in today's life in my country.
But what really broke me is that she compared me to my far more paranoid brother as a result.
My brother doesn't have a smartphone. He uses Linux instead of Windows or Mac. He has done far more than just not having WhatsApp to the point where everyone and me finds him really annoying to deal with.
And yet, the sole decision to delete WhatsApp merited her to put me at the same insanity level as him.
Not only was I personally hurt, but I came to realize how astonishingly deep #Meta's claws have been dug in my country.
I knew I couldn't argue with them. I tried to argue about using RCS instead of WhatsApp before. They didn't budge. Not even with the convenience that makes RCS popular in the U.S.
It even leads me to believe that Google's Trends statistics for searches on how to "delete #facebook", "delete #instagram" and "delete whatsapp" for my region are not but a lie, even when they're at a consistent 60% to 70% of searches from people in that region.
I feel extremely hurt and sad, because it means that common sense has failed against the convenience of Meta as a mainstay.
I'm extremely pained because it weakens my stance against Meta and their new community guidelines, and how they allow discriminating women and the LGBTQ+.
And for that, with all my heart, I want to say:
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry to all of you I know on Mastodon, Bluesky and the fediverse at large.
I'm sorry to all of you women and trans people that I know and I'm friends with.
I failed you all.
