It's business practices seem distasteful, several legal threats against competitors and critics, heavy covert "submarine" advertising (i.e. ads masquerading as news), and apparently unexplained popularity among policy-makers despite criticism from those on the front line (e.g. emergency services). Technical criticism centres on the fact that it's algorithm is not as good as it could be, hence risking lives, and is not open. Several alternatives exist, some of which the creators claim address these technical issues:
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This company/app pops up on HN with some regularity, and attracts a fair amount of criticism:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37359256
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27350975
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27058271
It's business practices seem distasteful, several legal threats against competitors and critics, heavy covert "submarine" advertising (i.e. ads masquerading as news), and apparently unexplained popularity among policy-makers despite criticism from those on the front line (e.g. emergency services). Technical criticism centres on the fact that it's algorithm is not as good as it could be, hence risking lives, and is not open. Several alternatives exist, some of which the creators claim address these technical issues:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20970664
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31829267
I've no horse in this race, but frankly what3words seems a bad choice and an unpleasant organisation.
Edit to add links to reported issues and legal actions:
https://archive.is/6KVvL
https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/30/what3words-legal-threat-wh...
http://web.archive.org/web/20210430005537/https://twitter.co...