WhatsApp blocking links to rivalapp Telegram on Android

Users have reported that links of Telegram app sent via WhatsApp on Android appear only as text and not as clickable links. Telegram has attributed this to a WhatsApp update that was pushed out.... When users send a telegram.me or telegram.org
link from WhatsApp, it appears only as text and is not clickable

• This problem is limited to Android devices   for now and does not affect iPhones
•Telegram attributed the issue to a recent

WhatsApp update
NEW DELHI: Popular messaging platform
WhatsApp has started blocking links to rival app Telegram, in a move that has already started earning it criticism.
. . First brought to light by a Reddit thread, this issue is limited to only WhatsApp on Android.

Therefore, links to Telegram app sent from an Android phone to an iPhone open on the latter, but not the former.

. . When users send a telegram.me or telegram.org
link from WhatsApp, it appears only as text and not as a clickable link. On the other hand, links to the news website The Telegram (thetelegram.com) are opening as expected on WhatsApp chats.
According to a report by The Verge, a Telegram employee that this issue is due to a update pushed out by WhatsApp yesterday that disabled
links to the rival app.
. . Telegram, which is available for Android, iOS,
Windows Phone, Ubuntu Touch, Windows, OS X
and Linux platforms, claims to have over 62
million monthly active users (May 2015). On the other hand, WhatsApp's user base across Android,
BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Symbian, Tizen and
Firefox OS platforms is over 900 million.