Hate to say it but it honestly doesn’t sound crazy hard to just block any instance that pops up. Yes it’s whack a mole but if it’s an automated script, it can just crawl through a backdoor instance and ban any domain it sees.

Like you, I value my relationships and by extension my mental health more than which messaging app I use.

I hate Meta with a passion and them acquiring Whatsapp is probably the most disappointing acquisition of all time to me, but I’m going to continue using it because my wife, family in Latin America, and world friends all use it. And being lonely and out of touch isn’t worth the satisfaction of knowing my data isn’t being scraped to me. Others in these threads always seems to disagree here, and they’re free to do that but it’s not a lifestyle I’m interested in.

I’m making changes where I can; I self host a server for my media, photos, files. I’m going to install Graphene on my phone soon. I’m interested in picking up a cheaper older phone to try a Linux mobile OS on. I have my phone auto connect to my pihole to block trackers when I’m out of the house, etc. But I know as soon as it’s something I have to inconvenience others with, it’s not going to work.

Pick your battles.

I’m on Mint.

T-Mobile acquired them, per the usual bullshit, but I get 15GB a month with unlimited talk and text for “$20” a month. The catch is that you pay yearly in bulk for that price. Had it a year and change. Been solid.