- WhatsApp will start asking users to agree to a new privacy policy.
- The messaging app previously asked users in January, but inadvertently started a privacy panic.
- Panic increased the number of users of competing encrypted messaging services Signal and Telegram.
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WhatsApp is trying to bring users back a month after a change in privacy policy sparked widespread panic.
In January, the company sent a notification to users asking them to agree to an updated privacy policy or they would lose access to the application.
The privacy policy, in fact, only materially affected the way the platform handles data from messages sent to business accounts. However, many users thought this meant that more of their data would be shared with WhatsApp’s parent company, Facebook.
WhatsApp later postponed the deadline to agree to the new terms and conditions. On Thursday, it posted a blog post saying it would once again ask users to sign the new policy.
This time, however, instead of sending a pop-up notification, WhatsApp will display a banner at the top of the app that users can click to review the new policy. Clicking on the banner will take you to a more complete explanation of exactly what is changing.
This is the explanation that users will see when they click.
Whatsapp
In its blog post, WhatsApp appeared to attack rival apps, which gained user numbers after last month’s privacy scare.
“During that time, we understand that some people can check other apps to see what they have to offer. We saw some of our competitors try to escape by claiming they can’t see people’s messages – if an app doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption by default, which means they can read your messages, “he said.
WhatsApp did not reveal which competitors it was referring to, but two of the biggest apps to benefit from the January privacy scare were the messaging apps Signal and Telegram. Signal downloads increased by 4,200% in the four days after WhatsApp notification, with 7.5 million new downloads. Telegram said it gained 25 million new users in 72 hours, exceeding the 500 million download mark.
Although Signal is encrypted from end to end by default, Telegram is not.
WhatsApp seemed to make a veiled reference to these services on its blog, saying: “Other apps say they are better because they know even less information than WhatsApp. We believe that people are looking for apps that are reliable and safe, even if that requires WhatsApp to have some limited data. “
Signal and Telegram collect less metadata about users than WhatsApp, something that experts say makes them better services for people looking to protect their privacy.