Popular messaging platform WhatsApp has started blocking links to rival app Telegram, in a move that has already started earning it criticism.
In what may sound a bit discriminating, popular messaging service WhatsApp has started blocking links within its chats that point to a competing messenger platform called Telegram. For now the URL block only appears on Android devices and this applies to those who recently updated their WhatsApp app to version 2.12.367.
First brought to light by a Reddit thread, this issue is limited to only WhatsApp on Android. Therefore, links to Telegram app sent from an Android phone to an iPhone open on the latter, but not the former.
When users send a telegram.me or telegram.org link from WhatsApp, it appears only as text and not as a clickable link. On the other hand, links to the news website The Telegram (thetelegram.com) are opening as expected on WhatsApp chats.
The current version of the app will not allow you to forward nor copy or even open a link with ‘telegram’ in the sub domain (.telegram). It isn’t clear why WhatsApp has put this into practice.
The organization told the production that a noiseless redesign to WhatsApp appears to have added this ability to the talk application. A few clients who don’t have the most recent rendition of the application introduced won’t see the square on Telegram connects just yet.
A Telegram representative included, “Regularly after a media kickback, FB ventures back and accuses their insightful sifting of the issue. We anticipate that the same will happen this time too.” This isn’t the first run through Facebook, which claims WhatsApp, has been blamed for blue penciling substance and blocking connections.
The Verge did contact Telegram and this indeed turned out to be a genuine problem for users who use both messaging apps. However, this is not shocking news, since WhatsApp is owned by Facebook and the social network in the past, was caught blocking URLs from torrent website Pirate Bay and other social networks as well.
The report ends with a Telegram spokesperson commenting, “Typically after a media backlash, FB steps back and blames their intelligent filtering for the problem,” So hopefully, Facebook has an answer before things get out of hand.
WhatsApp recently introduced rich-previews for shared links first on iOS and then on Android devices. A user can choose where they want the shared link to appear as a rich preview while typing the link.
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