WhatsApp Delays New Privacy Policy by Three Months Amid Severe Criticism
WhatsApp has announced delaying by three months the implementation of a new privacy policy after it has faced a massive backlash from around the world.
The policy change was originally scheduled to come into effect on February 8, the Facebook-owned company said. Now, it has clarified that the update does not affect data sharing with Facebook with regard to personal conversations or other profile information and only addresses business chats in the event a user converses with a company”s customer service platform through WhatsApp.
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
“We’ve heard from so many people how much confusion there is around our recent update. There”s been a lot of misinformation causing concern and we want to help everyone understand our principles and the facts,” WhatsApp said in a company blog.
“WhatsApp was built on a simple idea: what you share with your friends and family stays between you. This means we will always protect your personal conversations with end-to-end encryption so that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see these private messages. It”s why we don’t keep logs of who everyone”s messaging or calling. We also can’t see your shared location and we don’t share your contacts with Facebook,” it said further.
Asserting that none of that changes, the company said, “The update includes new options people will have to message a business on WhatsApp, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data. While not everyone shops with a business on WhatsApp today, we think that more people will choose to do so in the future and it”s important people are aware of these services. This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook.” The company said it was moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms. “No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8.
We’re also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security work on WhatsApp. We”ll then go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15,” it added.
