Facebook’s $ 16 billion investment in WhatsApp has long been expected to lead to a monetization strategy. Judging by the recent controversy over WhatsApp’s privacy policy, everything seems to point to this trend.
WhatsApp has already announced changes to its privacy policy, which have led people to question data security and privacy. As a result, many users are now turning to more private messaging apps like Signal and Telegram. In fact, downloads for Signal, the # 1 privacy messaging app, have increased by 4,200% in the past few weeks, with 7.5 million installed times globally in the first week alone. January 2021.
WhatsApp had to stop the damage to somehow limit the tide of users leaving the ship. WhatsApp relied on Twitter to debunk the rumors and clarify what exactly will be shared with Facebook. In India, where WhatsApp has more than 340 million users, the app bought headlines to explain exactly what data could be shared. Which brings us to the question, exactly What data will be shared between WhatsApp and Facebook according to the new policy? Also, is there anything the average user needs to worry about?
According to WhatsApp, the renewed privacy policy, which was supposed to go into effect on February 8, 2021, before the three-month delay was announced, applies only to the company’s communications. So the changes only apply if you choose to contact a company that integrates with WhatsApp.
Here’s all the data that will be shared when calling one of the 50 million corporate accounts on the platform:
- phone number
- Device ID
- position
- Transactional data
- Product interaction
- User IDs
Most of this information is meant to be used to improve ad targeting. By analyzing transaction and location data, Facebook can improve ads on users’ interests. We’ve already seen this happen between Facebook and Instagram. Now, with WhatsApp, the company will have more accurate data about the individual contact between the user and the company. As an end user, we should expect to see better ads on Facebook’s social platforms. The shared data will also allow the company to send payment confirmations and transaction data to us via the messaging platform.
These data sharing policies only apply to companies that choose to use Facebook’s business hosting solutions. The company says that conversations with these companies will be clearly marked with a tag. Contrary to popular belief, WhatsApp does not intend to intrude our private conversations. The private chats between two people, and the group chats, for that matter, are all end-to-end encrypted. None of this data can be scanned by WhatsApp and it is not shared with Facebook. This will not change even when the updated Privacy Policy comes into effect. WhatsApp does not have access to any of the following data:
- private chat
- Telefonate special
- Messages or call logs
- Contact information
- Common site
- WhatsApp group information
The updated privacy policy clarifies that changes to sharing data with Facebook only apply to business communications. Currently, updated terms and conditions for WhatsApp will come into effect from February 8 only for users who are not residents of Europe and the United Kingdom, thanks to some European laws on data processing.
at the moment It is not clear if the app will stop working if the user does not accept the new policies.
