WhatsApp has announced a delay in the introduction of its new privacy policy, which was announced earlier this month. The deadline for accepting the policy has been extended from February 8 to May 15. The company in a blog post stated that the delay has been introduced, for it to clear up misinformation around privacy and security.
WhatsApp in its blog post highlighted that the “update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook.” It added that it will shift its strategy and go to people gradually for reviewing the policy, before it launches its new business options on May 15.
We will make sure users have plenty of time to review and understand the terms. Rest assured we never planned to delete any accounts based on this and will not do so in the future.
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) January 15, 2021
The company in an earlier blog post stated that it can’t see its users private messages or listen to their calls. Neither does it keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling. It also claims that location data along with the messages and calls is end-to-end encrypted. And it will stay this way.
It claims that the update instead concerns how chats with merchants using WhatsApp can help Facebook in serving targeted ads. It stated, “whether you communicate with a business by phone, email, or WhatsApp, it can see what you’re saying and may use that information for its own marketing purposes, which may include advertising on Facebook.” According to the company, its new policy will legally bind a policy that has been widely in use since 2016.
Users privacy concern
Since the announcement of the privacy policy change, various WhatsApp users have been shifting to using alternate apps like Signal and Telegram. This shows that Facebook is facing a huge challenge in convincing users that the company takes their privacy seriously.
If you take a look closely at the new privacy policy and compare it to the older one rolled out in 2016, you will find out that most of the policy rules remain similar.
With this new policy, Facebook simply wants to centralize some of WhatsApp’s Business data at a place and bring WhatsApp further under its control.
WhatsApp is taking up multiple actions like this delay and the rolling out of full-page newspaper ads stating that it respects its users privacy.
