Facebook’s messaging app, WhatsApp, started posting status messages to users about their “commitment to their privacy”. In-app messages were appearing to members of The Verge US and UK officials on Saturday, and some users have reported that status messages – WhatsApp’s version of Snapchat Stories or Twitter Fleets – have been popping up in India for some time.
“There was a lot of misinformation and confusion surrounding our recent update and we want to help everyone understand the facts behind how WhatsApp protects people’s privacy and security,” said a WhatsApp spokesperson via email to The Verge. “From now on, we will provide updates to people on the Status tab so people can hear directly from WhatsApp. Our first update reaffirms that WhatsApp cannot see your personal messages, nor Facebook, because they are protected by end-to-end encryption. “
The messages say “One thing that is not new is our commitment to your privacy” and a reminder that “WhatsApp cannot read or listen to your personal conversations, as they are encrypted from end to end”.
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The messages are part of a larger WhatsApp effort to dispel misperceptions about a future update of its privacy policy. The update is intended to explain how companies using WhatsApp for customer service can store logs of their chats on Facebook servers. WhatsApp predicted changes to business chats in November. Given Facebook’s history of privacy errors, however, users misinterpreted changes to the privacy policy to mean that WhatsApp would require sharing sensitive profile information with Facebook.
The company posted a page of frequently asked questions about the changes and postponed the date the update will take effect from February to May. She issued a statement earlier this month addressing the confusion to reiterate what the new privacy policy would cover:
The update does not change WhatsApp’s data sharing practices with Facebook and it does not affect the way people communicate privately with friends or family anywhere in the world. WhatsApp remains deeply committed to protecting people’s privacy. We are communicating directly with users via WhatsApp about these changes so they have time to review the new policy over the next month
Amid the ensuing confusion, rival messaging apps Signal and Telegram have recently seen an increase in the number of new users. Telegram said last week that it added the ability for users to import their WhatsApp chat history. And Signal added new conventional chat features, such as animated stickers and wallpapers, to its app.