UPDATE: The new privacy policy will not affect WhatsApp users who decided to stop sharing data with Facebook when the option was available in 2016, the company told PCMag.
In other words, the company will continue to honor the exclusion option, even if you agree with the new policy. The opt-out status must be registered in the download function of your data, which can be found in the account settings tab.
Original story:
WhatsApp is indicating that soon you will have no choice but to share your data with the company’s Facebook if you want to continue using the service.
The messaging app has published a new privacy policy, which takes effect on February 8. “After that date, you will need to accept these updates to continue using WhatsApp,” the service has warned users via an in-app alert that asks them to agree to the policy.
If you don’t agree, the same alert subtly suggests that you delete your account.
(Credit: WhatsApp)
The next change will disappoint WhatsApp users who want to minimize data collection from Facebook, a company that faces repeated privacy controversies. In 2016, WhatsApp allowed you to choose not to share data when it came to driving ad targeting and “product experiences” for Facebook.
However, the opt-out came with one condition: you had to activate it within the first 30 days after signing up for the service. (Even if you did, WhatsApp could still share your account data with Facebook for the purpose of “operating and providing” the messaging service.)
WhatsApp’s new privacy policy does not offer this exclusion option. It is also unclear whether WhatsApp intends to resume data sharing for users who have opted out. We asked for a comment on Facebook and will update the story if we hear back.
In the meantime, the new policy starts to specify what type of information it can collect and also share with Facebook and its subsidiaries. The data includes the phone number of your WhatsApp account, profile name and photo, with whom you are communicating and the financial transactions you made through the application.
“We share your information to help us operate, provide, improve, understand, personalize, support and market our services,” adds WhatsApp in the privacy policy. This will include sending recommendations from friends, personalizing content, and displaying relevant ad offers across various Facebook products.
Despite the new policy, Facebook told PCMag that the policy update is mainly concerned with commercial messages. So, in practice, there is no change in what data is shared with Facebook for non-commercial chats and account information, the social network said.
Specifically, the updated policy was designed to address sending messages to companies through WhatsApp. Facebook will give companies the option of using Facebook’s secure hosting infrastructure to host WhatsApp chats if they don’t want to store messages on their own systems.
In addition, Facebook said the option to cancel data sharing originally occurred in 2016 as a one-time option. Since then, the feature does not exist in the app for new users. However, the opt-out option has been mentioned in WhatsApp’s oldest privacy policy for the past four years. Only now is the service finally removing the language after embarking on a robust update to the global privacy policy, the company told PCMag.
The new policy arrives while Facebook is working to integrate WhatsApp with the rest of the company’s messaging ecosystem. However, messages sent by the service will remain encrypted from end to end, meaning that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can read them.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify Facebook’s statements.