- The controversial updates to WhatsApp’s privacy policy will not happen as scheduled, the company said today.
- Instead, the company will pause the implementation for at least three months.
- This change in plans is probably the result of an intense user reaction to the changes.
Today, in an official blog post, WhatsApp announced that it will press “pause” on the controversial updates to its privacy policies. The company said it wants more time to “clear up misinformation about how privacy and security work on WhatsApp.”
The delay will last at least three months. However, there are no plans to make changes to the policy during this period.
WhatsApp is a big mess
The change is a direct response to the user’s not-so-subtle reaction to changes in policy. Essentially, WhatsApp’s new privacy terms allow the company to take specific WhatsApp user data and transfer it to other Facebook-owned properties, including the social network of the same name.
Related: See how WhatsApp will share your data with other Facebook brands
When the privacy policy changes were released last week, the public’s response was totally brutal. It started a huge exodus of users from WhatsApp to other encrypted messaging platforms, including Telegram and Signal. In the case of the latter, its servers partially crashed earlier today due to the huge growth of users.
In the blog post, the company says none of its privacy-oriented features are changing. He explains that this new policy is centered on helping users to connect with companies, which it admits is something that few users do at the moment. However, it sees this as the future of its platform and is ready to take that leap – even if its users are not.
In a poll conducted here in Android Authority, only about 10% of our readers said they agreed to the changes to WhatsApp’s privacy policy. If you want to delete your WhatsApp account, we have step-by-step instructions here.