WhatsApp: Are their new Terms of Serv....
With WhatsApp dominating the news recently regarding their new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, this has caused controversy over why WhatsApp are creating this new policy and if WhatsApp are only implementing this to share your information with Facebook. With most of our team being avid WhatsApp users, we delved into this subject area to research and find out more.
WhatsApp: Are their new Terms of Service really sharing more of your information with Facebook?
Digital Account Manager
Monday 1st March 2021
With WhatsApp dominating the news recently regarding their new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, this has caused controversy over why WhatsApp are creating this new policy and if WhatsApp are only implementing this to share your information with Facebook. With most of our team being avid WhatsApp users, we delved into this subject area to research and find out more.
When the announcement was made about the WhatsApp update earlier in the year, this worried users as it was believed that it would share more data with their parent company, Facebook. This caused millions of users to remove themselves from the app and by 12th January 2021, WhatsApp had fell from the 8th most downloaded app in the UK, to 23rd place. With people leaving the messaging service of WhatsApp, this caused growth for other messaging services like Signal, who gained a staggering 7.5 million users globally over the first three weeks of January.
So, is it really true that the new WhatsApp policy will share your data with Facebook? WhatsApp have recently released an update for their users with the full details of what the update in their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy means.
So, what is the truth behind the new WhatsApp policy?
WhatsApp are committed to privacy for their users and have stated that this is not changing. With encrypted messaging remaining, this means that no one outside of your conversation can read or listen to your chats, not even WhatsApp or Facebook. WhatsApp users can breathe a huge sigh of relief to know that encrypted messaging is here to stay and that their personal messages will remain and stay personal and private.
Privacy is of high importance to WhatsApp and so they have confirmed that the following aspects will not be changing:
- The security and privacy of your personal chats with family and friends will remain the same, with no changes in the new policy.
- You are in complete control of who you message on WhatsApp and so it is your decision as to whether you share your number with another user
So, if there are new Terms of Service to accept, something must be changing, right?
Correct! The new Terms of Service are bringing in a new update where you can have conversations with more businesses. WhatsApp are making it easier for businesses and consumers to communicate together regarding asking questions, updates, making purchases etc. However, if you don’t want to chat to a business then you can block them or remove them from your contact list. It is completely your choice. Bigger businesses who need to respond quickly to a message, may use Facebook technology to respond on their behalf, however, WhatsApp will clearly label these chats to let you know when this occurs. WhatsApp have also updated their Privacy Policy to give more information and clarity on how they collect, share and use customer data.
With this in mind, is the new update of the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for WhatsApp really that bad? Will you remain loyal to the app or will you try a new encrypted messaging service? With millions of users leaving the app when the original announcement was made at the beginning of 2021, will the clarity of their new Terms of Service make them want to rejoin the popular messaging app? We will have to wait and see what the future holds for encrypted messaging service apps.
