Normally, when you feel you’re getting the short end of a stick, for example when the supermarket sells you expensive mushy cauliflowers, or when the organization you volunteer at treats you disrespectfully, you go and find what you need somewhere else.

This ability to “defect” to an alternative when you feel you’re not getting a good deal, is an important “power” that helps you get reasonable deals.¹

When it comes to the way we relate to each other digitally, arguably one of the main ways in which we relate these days, we do not have that luxury. Apps like WhatsApp have grown to a point at which the network effects make it almost impossible for alternative suppliers to offer something similar for “consumers” to defect to.

Upon arrival at AUC, first year students are invited to join a WhatsApp group of their cohort. Doing so, we feel AUC fails to live up to its responsibility to help students, where possible, find and build a private, safe, (digital) world, devoid of unnecessary commercial interests that might be (or evolve to become) at odds with the interests of the students themselves.

In some parts of the world, including in the Netherlands, WhatsApp has become the most widely used chat service, both for personal and work related purposes. In fact, its wide usage has become one of its main points of attraction; users benefit from the fact that many of their friends, family members and colleagues are on this platform. The more people use Whatsapp, the more attractive it becomes as a chat service.