WhatsApp messaging service on Thursday announced to its nearly two million users its updated terms, which would allow the app to share more user data with its parent company, Facebook.
The terms include facilitating e-commerce through WhatsApp, as Facebook tries to monetize the messaging service.
The new terms will allow WhatsApp Business users to use the updated functions in the EU and the UK, a company spokesman told AFP news agency.
WhatsApp asked its users to agree to the new terms and conditions, or they would no longer have access to the app.
Users annoyed by new terms
Privacy advocates strongly criticized the update, with some warnings that the new terms were not legal.
Arthur Messaud, a lawyer at La Quadrature du net, an association that defends internet users, told AFP news agency that the update was illegally forcing users to agree to their data breach if they wanted to continue using the messaging service.
“If the only way to refuse (the modification) is to stop using WhatsApp, consent is forced, as the use of personal data is illegal,” he said.
The update has sparked anger among some WhatsApp users, who are considering switching to other instant messaging services. Tesla boss and billionaire Elon Musk used Twitter to ask people to switch to apps like Signal.
Within hours of the WhatsApp announcement, the Signal messaging app said it was dealing with an overload of new users.
Signal was developed by data privacy activists to implement a sealed sender policy, hiding message metadata, which could normally reveal the sender, recipient and time of messages.
Regulator pressure
WhatsApp was once considered a secure instant messaging software, thanks to its end-to-end encryption.
European Union politicians used the app during the Brexit negotiations, giving rise to the term “WhatsApp diplomacy”. The European Commission subsequently changed course, urging its employees to switch to Signal, citing privacy issues.
In May 2020, Germany’s data privacy commissioner Ulrich Kelber advised against the use of WhatsApp in federal ministries and institutions, urging government agencies to respect data protection.
WhatsApp’s parent company, Facebook, has been on a collision course with regulators in the United States and the EU for years, with the situation peaking in late 2020.
In December, the United States Federal Trade Commission and 48 states filed a lawsuit against Facebook for violating competition laws, accusing the social environment of a market monopoly.
The EU also fined Facebook € 110 million (at the time, $ 120 million) for misleading its users about the company’s power to link accounts between its other services after its controversial acquisition of WhatsApp.
Facebook took over WhatsApp in 2014, two years after purchasing the Instagram photo service.