And that would be so good because I could be convinced to really uninstall whatsaap
A partial exodus doesn't work. With this delay, maybe half of the people who were going to switch won't end up switching.
By boiling the frog slowly, they make sure that a mass exodus never happens, only partial exoduses that end up dying and tiring people out.
I'm not sure. Bad publicity has a critical point after which people leave and move to other services. When people who weren't concerned about privacy before began to have conversations about whether Telegram or Signal is a better replacement to WhatsApp, Facebook realized that they have pushed it too far this time. They're much better served if people think "Oh WhatsApp is owned by a shady company but everyone I know uses it so I need to use it to".
Did you just provide the counterargument to your own argument?
If they backpaddled is likely because there was enough of a negative reaction to raise concern.
I believe it's more likely they are trying to figure out how to announce the next deadline more quietly without breaking too many laws.