WhatsApp said it would postpone a planned policy update to give users time to revise its terms amid fears that the Facebook platform would share private data with its parent company, helping to drive a massive migration of the app.
The chat app announced on Friday that it would delay the update until mid-May, blaming “confusion” and “Misinformation” for growing privacy concerns among customers, while insisting that it will not deliver additional user data, such as private messages, to Facebook under its new policies.
“We will always protect your personal conversations with end-to-end encryption, so that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see these private messages,” said the company. “That’s why we don’t keep records of who’s all texting or calling. We also can’t see your shared location and we don’t share your contacts with Facebook. “
This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook.
We will ensure that users have ample time to review and understand the terms. Please rest assured that we never plan to delete any accounts based on this and will not do so in the future.
– WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) January 15, 2021
Earlier this month, the chat platform informed users of the upcoming policy update, noting that it would include new options for WhatsApp messaging businesses, but also stating that customers would have until February 8 to accept the changes or else would be blocked from their accounts. The notification soon sparked fears that the update would mean significant changes in how WhatsApp shares data, that is, with its parent company, Facebook.
While the company emphatically denied rumors of more intrusive data sharing, the concerns nevertheless fueled a major exodus from the platform, driving masses of users to competing chat apps. On Friday, Signal said it experienced a global disruption due to “Millions and millions” of new users migrating to the platform, saying they were “Send a message that privacy is important.” Telegram, meanwhile, recorded about 5.6 million downloads in less than a week earlier this month, by Apptopia, and says it has gained more than 25 million new users in the past 72 hours. All of this is happening while WhatsApp records a reduction in downloads from 12.7 million to 10.6 million compared to last week, according to the mobile app analytics tracker Sensor Tower.
Sorry, we have already migrated the whole family and all friends to another platform. You should have thought carefully before selling our privacy and doing business with it. Bye, WhatsApp.
– Teban D. (@tebanrhcp) January 15, 2021
The WhatsApp flight was helped last week after billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, now the richest man in the world, begged his Twitter followers to “Use Signal” following the announced WhatsApp update.
While WhatsApp is proud of its commitment to secure communications and end-to-end encryption, the platform has been criticized for its data sharing practices in the past. She announced in 2016 that she would start sharing some user data with Facebook, such as connecting customers’ phone numbers to the social media giant and sending data for targeted ads. The Electronic Privacy Information Center – a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization – filed a complaint with the United States Federal Trade Commission at the time, arguing that the policy change was a “Unfair and misleading commercial practice”, but the change had little effect.
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According to the 2016 policy, however, users had a unique opportunity to choose not to send data to Facebook. This option will no longer be available in the update, now set to take effect on May 15, forcing customers to submit their information as a condition of using the platform.
As of today, WhatsApp now shares a larger set of data with its parent company, including “Transaction data, service-related information, information about how you interact with other people (including companies) … mobile device information, your IP address,” while the company says it can also share “other information” specified elsewhere in your privacy policy.
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