![]() Rival services Signal and Telegram both gained users over the past week due to the speculation surrounding the WhatsApp policy change. The changes were actually first announced in a Facebook blog post last October, which noted that "messaging a business is different than messaging a loved one." "Facebook may use the way you interact with these ads to personalize the ads you see" it said. Lastly, WhatsApp said Facebook may tailor advertising to users if they were to chat with a business using a WhatsApp button first encountered inside an ad. The app said it is an optional feature, and any data sharing will be explained to the user. The app said conversations with such businesses will be labeled.Īdditionally, a user who purchases a business's product via WhatsApp would have their shopping activity used to tailor ads served via both Facebook and Instagram. The new privacy policy changes that, seemingly due to how businesses now have the ability to use chats as part of Facebook marketing.Īccording to WhatsApp, business clients who use Facebook's hosting services can use communications with WhatsApp users for marketing purposes, which could include Facebook ads. That data sharing with Facebook has been in place since 2016, however users initially had the option to opt-out. However, as it is part of the Facebook family, WhatsApp's policy notes that it does share other data, including the phone number used to register, information about a user's mobile device including operating system and mobile country code, alongside some usage data such as when a user last used the app, the date they registered and frequency of use. ![]() The app uses end-to-end (E2E) encryption, which means the content inside a message to a user's personal contacts is only accessible to the sender and recipient. WhatsApp maintains that neither it nor Facebook can see private messages or hear calls, access shared locations, see contact lists or view logs of users' usage activity. Would It Benefit Consumers to Break Up Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google?. ![]() Facebook's Plan to Dominate Virtual Reality-And Turn Us into 'Data Cattle'.Whatsapp Alternatives Grow in Popularity after App Updates Privacy Policy.Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp, tweeted on Tuesday that the update is about business communications and that it "does not impact how people communicate privately." Rumors swirled on Twitter as the prompt was perceived by some as being a notice that personal information from WhatsApp was being made available to the social network, apparently fueling downloads of alternative services including Signal and Telegram.īut in a statement, WhatsApp rejected the suggestion that the privacy of chats will be left vulnerable after the policy comes into force, and claimed it was needed to give more transparency about data that is collected when users communicate with businesses. Speculation that WhatsApp's secure messaging capabilities were under threat surged after users received a prompt saying they would no longer be able to use the chat app unless they agreed to new privacy rules, set to take effect on February 8. WhatsApp executives have assured users their private messages won't be snooped on after an update to its policy on compulsory data sharing with its parent company Facebook caused alarm across social media last week.
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