WhatsApp has determined that until this Saturday, May 15, its users must decide whether or not to accept the new terms and conditions for using the app.
Among the main changes is sharing with Facebook and there is the possibility that WhatsApp data can also be used by Instagram and Messenger, all from the same company.
Some critics saw this as an extrapolation of privacy, motivating the search for alternative services, such as Telegram and Signal.
From the 15th of May, those who do not accept the new conditions will begin to have limited use of the application.
“No account will be removed,” said WhatsApp on its website.
You will no longer be able to open your conversation list, but you will be able to answer calls and video calls. If you have notifications enabled, you can tap them to read or reply to messages, the company says.
That is, users will only be able to access conversations through on-screen notifications.
In the coming days, the reminder for reviewing and deciding on changes to the app will become “more persistent” until the user accepts or declines them, says the company.
Still, the account of those who do not accept the new rules will not be deleted immediately – but will be subject to the same current application policy for inactive accounts.
These rules say that if the messaging service is not used for 120 days, the account will be deleted.
Some critics saw this as an extrapolation of privacy, motivating the search for alternative services, such as Telegram and Signal.
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“We want to clarify that the update in no way affects the privacy of messages that users share with their friends and family,” the company said in a statement.
“Neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can read your messages or listen to the calls you make with your friends, family or colleagues on WhatsApp. Everything that is exchanged will be between you.”
Cristian León, of the NGO Asuntos del Sur, based in Argentina, explained why the data of WhatsApp users are so valuable – and the subject of dispute.
“WhatsApp has a lot of metadata, which is the information you get from any message we send – like the phone brand, the time of the message, its location, among others. With that, the company can know a lot about its users”, explained León.
The change in question affects how companies using WhatsApp Business, the corporate version of the app, will be able to manage customer information through Facebook — the blue giant has owned the messaging app since 2014.
Some companies may share WhatsApp customer data with their corporate Facebook accounts. Among the information collected are names, phone numbers, used device, transaction and payment data and other anonymous data. The content of conversations, messages, photos, videos and audios are not shared because they are encrypted from end to end – and this will remain protected and with restricted access to each person with a profile in the app.
This sharing has been around for about four years, but, at first, people could choose to provide this data to companies that wanted to use it on Facebook or not. WhatsApp has removed this guarantee from the terms of use. Now, if you talk to a company that shares this data, it can be shared automatically. The public no longer has the power to decide on this.
Each person will be notified within the conversation if the company they are talking to has chosen to use Facebook to manage and store their WhatsApp messages. The company guarantees that the only change will be a notification that will arise in conversations between users and companies. “Although not everyone buys with a company on WhatsApp today, we think more people will choose to do so in the future and it is important that people are aware” of this data sharing, says WhatsApp.
The platform argues that if you don’t want a company to share your data with Facebook, just don’t interact with it. He also argues that users can still easily block a company on WhatsApp if they want to.
