Why you should stop using WhatsApp: new critical update confirmed

WhatsApp may have overcome your privacy reaction, but there will be more to come, as some of you will lose access to your accounts. Worse, WhatsApp’s nightmare in 2021 exposed a serious problem for its 2 billion users that seems impossible to solve. Millions more are likely to leave. Should you do the same?

As a security professional, it is difficult to advise WhatsApp users to terminate the application. The messaging platform did more to popularize secure messages than anyone else. But it was also acquired by the world’s meanest data collection machine. And it was always inevitable that there would be a reckoning at some point.

WhatsApp has now faced its 2021 privacy reaction – but it has done so by focusing on its security credentials, minimizing data sharing with Facebook and ignoring its metadata collection problem. “Metadata – data about your data,” explains Cyjax CISO Ian Thornton-Trump, “are almost as powerful as the real Dice.”

Let’s not forget that the recent reaction came in two parts. First, Apple introduced its privacy labels, exposing WhatsApp to collect much more data than Signal, Telegram and iMessage. Whether this data is shared with Facebook is important, but not as important as the justification for collecting it in the first place.

WhatsApp’s privacy label is horrible. It is the only leading secure messenger that collects “data linked to you”, including your device ID, for “developer advertising and marketing”. It also collects your contact information, user ID and device ID for ominously vague “other purposes”. Other messengers collect your data to personalize the functionality. WhatsApp is harvesting for other reasons.

“Other apps,” WhatsApp now told users, “They say they are better because they know even less information than WhatsApp – we believe that people are looking for apps that are reliable and secure, even if that requires WhatsApp to have some limited data.”

But this is not “limited data”. It is a long list of data, all linked to your identity. We know why WhatsApp wants your metadata – because that tells us in its privacy policy. And no one claims that Signal, iMessage or Telegram are unreliable or secure because they collect less data from their users. And how does WhatsApp collect your data for advertising compared to “requiring” your data to keep your application “reliable and secure?”

Remember – if the product is free, then you’re the product. This is not complicated.

The second part of this reaction, the forced change of terms, hit hard because it looked like WhatsApp was collecting this data and sharing it with Facebook – that was the incorrect report. It’s okay, said WhatsApp, we don’t share all your data with Facebook. But suddenly WhatsApp showed that there is some data sharing. The fact that this is not new is hardly the point. These privacy labels are strict.

Most importantly, the logic behind collecting all of this data has been minimized. It seemed that WhatsApp was understanding that the reaction would pass and we would all forget. We collect because we need it, was the message. But there was no word on what exactly was being used and how. These are your data. You have the right to know what is being collected and how it is being used.

Yes, WhatsApp is a free platform. And they have every right to say that we collect certain data fields and use them to send you ads that may be relevant. We, as users, can choose whether this is acceptable to us or not. What are no what they have the right to do is to obfuscate, talk about the subject and refuse to give transparency, to say that it is an inevitable and intangible part of this free service that they offer.

Ironically, most users accept that some form of data collection is a price worth paying for free platforms. But there has to be a limit. And there has to be transparency. It is impossible to argue that data collection is proportional to the services offered. Facebook posted revenue of $ 28.1 billion in the last quarter – it is not a question of survival.

WhatsApp’s specific reaction was exaggerated. The change in terms is more benign than was (badly) reported at the time. The owner of WhatsApp, Facebook, wants to allow his business customers to communicate with you on WhatsApp, and only if you agree with those contacts. If you do, some of these messages can be stored outside WhatsApp, outside your end-to-end encryption.

This is not a problem. Who cares about the safety of your messages in the laundry or supermarket – especially if you have chosen each specific chat? But it still breaks WhatsApp’s existing data processing terms and therefore the change needs to be made. As WhatsApp says, it needs to sell services to keep the messenger free. But the move opened WhatsApp up for a late look at its metadata – and that didn’t go well. The privacy problem of WhatsApp will not be put back in your Pandora’s box.

You now have a few weeks to accept the new WhatsApp terms. After that, WhatsApp has now confirmed in a FAQ that is not particularly useful, “you will not have the full functionality of WhatsApp until you accept it. For a short time, “he says,” you will be able to receive calls and notifications, but you will not be able to read or send messages from the application. “

WhatsApp says that “if you haven’t accepted by [May 15], WhatsApp will not delete your account ”, but you will effectively lose the use of your account after“ a short period of time ”.

So, what does this really mean? You will still be able to access the account for a while, although you will not be able to read or send messages. In WhatsApp terminology, your account will appear to be “inactive”. And here the WhatsApp policy is clear. “To maintain security, limit data retention and protect the privacy of our users, WhatsApp accounts are generally deleted after 120 days of inactivity. Inactivity means that the user has not connected to WhatsApp. “

All of this is confusing. WhatsApp did not say that it will delete accounts after this “short time”, or even how long is a grace period. But the media is reporting that the exclusions will occur and this is not being corrected.

Even WhatsApp seemed confused by its plans, as it delayed the February 8 deadline to accept the new terms. On January 15th^º, WhatsApp said “we will ensure that users have ample time to review and understand the terms – make sure that we never plan to delete any account based on this and we will not do so in the future”.

This means that the accounts will not be deleted. And maybe they won’t – despite the headlines warning exactly that. I asked WhatsApp again if they would confirm anything and they refused to answer. All WhatsApp says is that it “extended the effective date to May 15th. If you have not accepted by then, WhatsApp will not delete your account. However, you will not have all the features of WhatsApp until you accept. “

Of course, someone could be more cynical about a tweet sent on January 15, in the middle of a reaction, which assured users that accounts would not be deleted by changing the terms, “we never plan to delete accounts based on that. and will not do so in the future,”, Which was followed a month later by the news that the accounts would, at best, be blocked and, at worst, deleted if the terms were not accepted by May 15th.

WhatsApp also declined to comment on this apparent contradiction.

In January, I advised users to stick with WhatsApp, although perhaps to try other options, especially Signal, in parallel. I said that there was no reason to abandon WhatsApp, that the issue around changing the terms had been overstated. But the way WhatsApp managed this situation could change that advice.

This was an opportunity to listen and get involved, not to bombard users with skilled public relations, while following Plan A. Apple changed the game by introducing privacy labels and removing ad tracking. Platforms need to be improved and change the way they behave or risk losing users to alternatives that do. Facebook made its position clear against Apple’s changes. WhatsApp is doing the same.

There is no problem in agreeing to the new privacy terms – there is nothing to worry about. But the obstinate collection of WhatsApp data and the refusal to give in or even review the situation is pure Facebook. This is the clearest sign yet about the direction that WhatsApp is taking.

It is unrealistic for many of us to shut down WhatsApp completely – unless we refuse to accept the new terms, of course. But replace it as our standard courier It is feasible. After all, the same happened with SMS for many of us – when we resort to WhatsApp, ironically. So, is it really time to stop using WhatsApp? Maybe this time it will be.