I actually don't think it's as ingrained as people make it out to be; it certainly _was_ present at a time, but poking around on various Google Maps entries for restaurants and shops that come up checking in various EU cities, while a lot of them do have Facebook pages as their sites, the pages are mostly abandoned.
COVID likely helped with this (can't help but notice quite a few have last posts around or just before 2020), but even before that you can see it's slowing.
Regarding WhatsApp, it should be pointed out that the article addresses this and suggests WhatsApp likely wouldn't be affected immediately as it has a different data controller (GDPR term I believe). But even if Whatsapp were on the chopping block, most hotels/hostels/other businesses I've worked with in the small to medium size have multiple chat apps they list (WhatsApp, Viber, Instagram, and more rarely, Telegram) so I suppose such businesses would be quite okay and at worst would just have a mild annoyance.
As an aside, I'm not sure I know of people who are actually big fans of WhatsApp so much so as it's just sort of what you use cause back in the day, it's what you used for international calls. There are a lot of alternatives now that are pretty solid with actual fanbases for the products; anecdotally, I don't think I know anyone that actually _likes_ using WhatsApp, it's more just something they use. Feature wise, WhatsApp feels very aged and has not really kept up with competing applications.
All in all I think it wouldn't be such a big deal, and if there were a ban, I do think it would probably be okay in the long run for most people; the communities would adjust (as they always do) and there are _plenty_ of alternatives.
COVID likely helped with this (can't help but notice quite a few have last posts around or just before 2020), but even before that you can see it's slowing.
Regarding WhatsApp, it should be pointed out that the article addresses this and suggests WhatsApp likely wouldn't be affected immediately as it has a different data controller (GDPR term I believe). But even if Whatsapp were on the chopping block, most hotels/hostels/other businesses I've worked with in the small to medium size have multiple chat apps they list (WhatsApp, Viber, Instagram, and more rarely, Telegram) so I suppose such businesses would be quite okay and at worst would just have a mild annoyance.
As an aside, I'm not sure I know of people who are actually big fans of WhatsApp so much so as it's just sort of what you use cause back in the day, it's what you used for international calls. There are a lot of alternatives now that are pretty solid with actual fanbases for the products; anecdotally, I don't think I know anyone that actually _likes_ using WhatsApp, it's more just something they use. Feature wise, WhatsApp feels very aged and has not really kept up with competing applications.
All in all I think it wouldn't be such a big deal, and if there were a ban, I do think it would probably be okay in the long run for most people; the communities would adjust (as they always do) and there are _plenty_ of alternatives.