The chat space is problematic.

• There are a lot of apps that don’t encrypt at all (e.g. Google chat, discord, etc)
• There are apps that encrypt but they are subject to jurisdictions that can or may in the future force backdoors (e.g., Chinese apps, possibly telegram, possibly US apps in the future)
• There are apps that encrypt, are in countries that are privacy focused but are not for free (e.g., threema)

This contributes to a fragmentation that makes WhatsApp the app that-you-must-have

Sure it is supposedly encrypted but I would not bet my money that is without back doors

Except that countries like Canada has laws that makes it possible to happen

I would be curious to read a reference to that… not that any country cares just they history on how they agreed on something like that