- WhatsApp announced its data sharing policy causing millions to switch.
- The policy forced users to agree to share data with Facebook servers.
- The messenger app again explained its policy via an announcement on Thursday.
WhatsApp has a new initiative to clarify its controversial privacy policy. It came under fire after users became worried that the application might share its messages with Facebook. Users can read through the new policy and learn how business and personal communications are treated. The new announcements have different privacy requirements.
The updated privacy policy specifically concerns WhatsApp messaging companies. Also, what parts of your data those companies have access to. Most WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted. This ensures that only the people actually communicating may access them. But WhatsApp also allows users to send messages to corporations, and the same rights are not applied to such messages. The information in company messages can be used for commercial purposes, such as Facebook ad targeting, and some of them are also stored on Facebook servers. The privacy policy of WhatsApp was an effort to justify the shift, but many users perceived it as WhatsApp, which included the privacy emphasis for which it was known.
WhatsApp will remind users to read and approve the new policy
WhatsApp plans to give users the opportunity to check this updated privacy policy within its app. The policy launch moved from February 8th to May 15th. The company has already tried to reassure users via WhatsApp’s Status feature. The company says that it will soon remind users to read and approve the new policy to continue to use the app as well.
WhatsApp also states that companies pay for the right to contact consumers using WhatsApp. It’s one of the ways that WhatsApp will offer the app for free. WhatsApp’s principal characteristics remain as private as ever. However, it is not as private. In 2016, WhatsApp began sharing some personal details. Such as phone numbers and profile pictures with Facebook to boost friend suggestions and advertising on the app.
WhatsApp’s Announcement
The tone of WhatsApp is somewhat apologetic in this redoing of its policy update. It didn’t clarify what changed users well enough, and it owns up to that. But WhatsApp also managed to sneak in a jab at other businesses that accepted the policy-induced exodus from WhatsApp:
During this time, we understand some people may check out other apps to see what they have to offer. We’ve seen some of our competitors try to get away with claiming they can’t see people’s messages — if an app doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption by default that means they can read your messages. Other apps say they’re better because they know even less information than WhatsApp. We believe people are looking for apps to be both reliable and safe, even if that requires WhatsApp having some limited data. We strive to be thoughtful on the decisions we make and we’ll continue to develop new ways of meeting these responsibilities with less information, not more.
WhatsApp cites Telegram obliquely. The app seemed to benefit from the uncertainty about what was changing in WhatsApp, along with Signal. Telegram has dealt with its own criticism that end-to-end encryption is not allowed by default. WhatsApp obviously does not want you to forget that.
