Well, millions of Indian users received an in-app notification from WhatsApp as part of an upcoming global roll-out, asking them to either accept the changes in its Terms of Service and privacy policy by February 8 or their accounts will be deleted.
The last time WhatsApp updated its privacy policy globally was in 2016.
Now, if you tap on 'agree' what exactly you are signing up for? So, the terms of Service and privacy policy is regarding how WhatsApp will collect and process users' information going forward, and the partnership with Facebook, its parent company, as part of a larger unification drive between the family of apps.
With this your privacy is impacted. WhatsApp holds some data about you. So does Facebook. Those data are in different silos.
If the silos talk to each other, the company knows more. For example, it may learn that a given phone number (used for WhatsApp) is associated with the FB account (which may have a different name and/or different number associated). From February 8, FB will also be able to tie accurate location data if you give WhatsApp permission to use this.
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