WhatsApp is blocking links to a competing messenger app

On Nov 30, Telegram users on WhatsApp noticed something strange. The chat app was blocking any links to Telegram.me, a rival chat app that grew popular in the wake of earlier WhatsApp outages. The URLs still appeared as messages, but they did not register as hyperlinks and users were blocked from copying them to paste into another app -- effectively treating them like malware or spam.

The behavior wasn't exhibited on every device but it was consistent within devices, blocking both usernames and links to individual messages or chat rooms. Telegram confirmed the activity, which seems to have begun with a silent update pushed earlier on Nov 30. The update has the same version number as a previously deployed update, but a Telegram volunteer confirmed that a new 367 update was deployed Nov 30. That update likely hasn't reached every device using WhatsApp, which may explain why the block is not consistent across different devices. Testing revealed that the block also includes Telegram.com, an unrelated URL owned by a newspaper in Worcester (MA).