If you don't care about centralized/US-based but care about privacy (I assume you wouldn't be leaving WhatsApp otherwise), go for Signal.
But if you want to avoid a repeat of what's happening with WhatsApp, support decentralized alternatives. Go for solutions that are built on Matrix or XMPP, the primary contenders in this space. Both are open networks with plenty of open-source software, public servers, paid hosting (i.e. you are not the product) and self-hosted options.
Personally I'm in the XMPP camp, and working on https://snikket.org/ specifically as an alternative to WhatsApp and the other centralized services.
I think one of the main problems protocols like XMPP and Matrix have to solve is the combination of good crypto + decentralization + offline-capability.
But if you want to avoid a repeat of what's happening with WhatsApp, support decentralized alternatives. Go for solutions that are built on Matrix or XMPP, the primary contenders in this space. Both are open networks with plenty of open-source software, public servers, paid hosting (i.e. you are not the product) and self-hosted options.
Personally I'm in the XMPP camp, and working on https://snikket.org/ specifically as an alternative to WhatsApp and the other centralized services.