

Interestingly enough, the privacy changes won’t apply to all WhatsApp users, a detail that Facebook might not explain in these banners - here’s what a WhatsApp spokesperson said in early January about the change: We display more information directly in WhatsApp so people can choose if they want to engage with businesses, or not.īut it’s still unclear what sort of personal data WhatsApp would send to Facebook and how/if that data will be used to track users across apps. Some shopping features involve Facebook so that businesses can manage their inventory across apps. Facebook could always require users to accept sharing data only when they start interacting with companies via WhatsApp.Ī blog on the WhatsApp site highlights the sort of data sharing that occurs between WhatsApp and Facebook when a business is involved: Facebook is yet to explain why the new privacy policy is mandatory for all WhatsApp users if it only concerns data sharing for those “optional” chats with businesses.
#Summary of whatsapp privacy changes update#
But no software can be available for free, and Facebook has to make money off of WhatsApp.įacebook says in this update that it’s “our responsibility to explain what we’re changing,” but the banner information might not be enough. Facebook did pay nearly $20 billion for the app and has never charged customers anything to use the app.
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That’s mandatory for almost every WhatsApp user.įacebook explains that businesses pay for the right to use WhatsApp to reach customers, and this is how WhatsApp makes money and remains free.

You won’t be able to opt out of sharing data with Facebook. Say you don’t plan to use WhatsApp to chat with companies you buy goods from. While chatting with businesses is optional, users can’t opt out of the feature. We’re making it easier to chat with businesses to ask questions and get quick answers. Facebook continues to focus on the end-to-end encryption protections that aren’t going away from the WhatsApp experience.īut Facebook also says that WhatsApp is also making it easier to chat with businesses - emphasis ours: Image source: WhatsApp via The Vergeįacebook is now resorting to the banner seen above to include access to information about the privacy policy changes. Signal and Telegram saw record numbers of new users in the weeks that followed, forcing Facebook to delay the WhatsApp privacy policy change to May 15th.įacebook will explain the controversial WhatsApp privacy policy change via a banner atop the chat menu. What followed was an unexpected backlash at Facebook, with millions of users downloading competing apps. Facebook never gave users the option to opt out of data sharing, and the only way to continue using WhatsApp once was to agree to the data sharing. All WhatsApp users received prompts to agree to the changes in early 2021, with WhatsApp informing users the changes would go into effect on February 8th. It’s mid-February, which means a brand new privacy policy should have governed Facebook’s WhatsApp instant messaging app by now. The new mandatory privacy changes cover the optional chats that people might have with businesses in the future. Facebook’s new banner will explain that WhatsApp will retain all its end-to-end encryption protections.Millions of people downloaded Signal and Telegram in the past few weeks after WhatsApp announced the imminent changes. WhatsApp will share some data with Facebook over, and the privacy changes are mandatory.Facebook will place a banner atop WhatsApp to explain the new privacy policy changes coming in mid-May.
