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WhatsApp on Friday announced a three-month delay in a new privacy policy originally slated to go into effect on February 8 amid widespread confusion over whether the new policy would mandate data sharing with Facebook.
The update does not actually affect data sharing with Facebook in regards to user chats or other profile information; WhatsApp has made it clear on several occasions that its update is for business chats in the event that a user is conversing with a company’s customer service platform through WhatsApp.
“We have heard from many people how confusing our recent update is. There has been a lot of worrying misinformation and we want to help everyone understand our principles and the facts, ”the company wrote in a new blog post published today.
Since 2016, WhatsApp has shared certain information with Facebook, including your phone number, unless you were one of the few users who chose not to share data while the option was still available that year. However, WhatsApp does not look at people’s chat messages or listen to their phone calls, and WhatsApp conversations are end-to-end encrypted to protect against such abuse.
Despite this, a pop-up informing users of the new change included a mention of how WhatsApp is partnering with Facebook, as well as an ultimatum asking users to delete their accounts if they choose not to agree to the new terms. It gave people the idea that they were being drawn into new, more invasive terms.
The company published a separate blog post this week in an attempt to clear up the confusion, and it included a graphic that specifies what information is protected and not shared when someone uses WhatsApp.
But numerous media reports highlighting the addition of new broad language in the privacy policy (the language WhatsApp says has been misinterpreted as involving mandatory data sharing) and misinformation on social media have melted into a real backlash to WhatsApp privacy. The result has been an increase in signups for messaging competitors such as Signal and Telegram.
Facebook executives, including Instagram chief Adam Mosseri and WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart, have used Twitter to try and clear up the confusion, it seems to be without much success. Facebook’s poor privacy record and the fact that WhatsApp has over time turned its focus towards monetizing the platform for its large international user base has eroded trust in the chat app, which had the effect of becoming relatively commonplace. update in a global controversy.
WhatsApp says it will now use that three-month deadline to better communicate both changes in its new policy and long-standing privacy practices regarding personal chats, location sharing and other sensitive data. . “We are now pushing back the date when people will be asked to review and agree to the terms,” the blog read.
WhatsApp says no one will lose access to the app if they don’t agree to the new terms of service that communicated the changes earlier this month. “We’re also going to do a lot more to eliminate misinformation about how privacy and security work on WhatsApp. Then we’ll gradually move on to people to review the policy at their own pace before new business options become available on May 15, ”the company says.
Whatsapp tells The edge the policy will not change when it comes out. The intention of the update is to communicate to users that messages with companies on WhatsApp can be stored on Facebook servers, which requires data sharing between the two companies and would allow Facebook to share this information between its leading social network and Instagram for ad targeting and to improve its digital commerce business. WhatsApp still intends to release the update on May 15 to coincide with the new corporate chat features that began previewing in October.
But the company hopes the extra time will help them tame the controversy and better improve their message about what’s really changing.
“The update includes new options that people will have for messaging a business on WhatsApp, and provides additional transparency on how we collect and use data. Although not everyone is buying with a business on WhatsApp today, we believe that more and more people will choose to do so in the future and it is important that people are aware of these services ”, it reads. in the blog. “This update does not extend our ability to share data with Facebook.”
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