I read about WhatsApp and how people can't part with Meta because of it, however no one on my continent uses it. Why is it so popular in the EU and other parts of the world?
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That's obviously true worldwide, but nobody uses the default messaging apps outside the states. So I'm not sure what your comment is meant to illustrate.
Because in other countries everyone uses WhatsApp, it's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. As for why the US kept using text messages while everyone else moved to WhatsApp, that's because texting in the US became very cheap while it was still very expensive in other countries.
To reply to your edit:
OP is asking why the rest of the world adopted whatsapp, but not the US. Your reply doesn't really go into any differences between the states and the rest of the world. Everything you've said could as easily apply anywhere worldwide.