It seems like Facebook-owned popular messaging service WhatsApp is blocking links to rival messaging applications – at least Telegram app for now.
Telegram users are noticing that WhatsApp is blocking any links to the privacy-oriented messaging service Telegram.me.
Although users are free to send or receive Telegram links on WhatsApp,
the links appear as non-clickable that you cannot copy or forward.
This strange behavior was first noticed this morning by Telegram users over on Reddit.
The URLs – which are generally automatically made clickable – still
appeared as plain text messages, but they didn't register as hyperlinks,
blocking users from copying or forwarding them to other users or other
apps.
In general, this odd behavior is done with malicious URLs such as malware or spam.
The Culprit
However, this strange behavior was not exhibited on every device. Only
WhatsApp for Android is currently showing this behavior while Telegram
URLs still work fine on the iOS version of WhatsApp.
This issue only began appearing in WhatsApp Version 2.12.327, a silent update pushed earlier this morning.
Telegram has confirmed
the situation to The Verge that the Facebook, who owned WhatsApp, is
indeed responsible for the issue, as the social network has used this
link-blocking trick in the newsfeed and Messenger app before to prevent
its users from visiting Torrent websites.
"Typically after a media backlash, FB steps back and blames their intelligent filtering for the problem," said a Telegram spokesperson. "We expect the same to happen this time as well."
However, Facebook and WhatsApp are yet to comment on the issue. The
popular messaging app has not even acknowledged that a new update was
pushed this morning
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