WhatsApp delays implementation of new privacy policy

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By Ashish Mitra --
Saturday, 16 Jan, 2021

After severe criticism and backlashes and tens of millions of its users moving from the platform to rivals like Signal and Telegram, WhatsApp has delayed the implementation of a new privacy policy by three months. The policy change was originally scheduled to come into effect on February 8, the Facebook-owned company has said.

It has clarified that the update does not affect data sharing with Facebook with regard to personal conversations or other profile information and will only addresses business chats in the event a user converses with a company's customer service platform through WhatsApp.

"We've heard from so many people how much confusion there is around our recent update. There's been a lot of misinformation causing concern and we want to help everyone understand our principles and the facts," WhatsApp said in a company blog.

"WhatsApp was built on a simple idea: what you share with your friends and family stays between you. This means we will always protect your personal conversations with end-to-end encryption, so that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see these private messages. It's why we don't keep logs of who everyone's messaging or calling. We also can't see your shared location and we don't share your contacts with Facebook," it said further.

Asserting that none of that changes, the company said, "The update includes new options people will have to message a business on WhatsApp, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data.

"While not everyone shops with a business on WhatsApp today, we think that more people will choose to do so in the future and it's important people are aware of these services. This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook."

The company said it was moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms.

The company further released a separate blog post Friday trying to clear up the confusion and it included a chart that specifies what information is protected when someone uses WhatsApp.

WhatsApp delays implementation of new privacy policy . After severe criticism and backlashes and tens of millions of its users moving from the platform to rivals like Signal and Telegram, WhatsApp has delayed the implementation of a new privacy policy by three months. The policy change was originally scheduled to come into effect on February 8, the Facebook-owned company has said.

It has clarified that the update does not affect data sharing with Facebook with regard to personal conversations or other profile information and will only addresses business chats in the event a user converses with a company's customer service platform through WhatsApp.

"We've heard from so many people how much confusion there is around our recent update. There's been a lot of misinformation causing concern and we want to help everyone understand our principles and the facts," WhatsApp said in a company blog.

"WhatsApp was built on a simple idea: what you share with your friends and family stays between you. This means we will always protect your personal conversations with end-to-end encryption, so that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see these private messages. It's why we don't keep logs of who everyone's messaging or calling. We also can't see your shared location and we don't share your contacts with Facebook," it said further.

Asserting that none of that changes, the company said, "The update includes new options people will have to message a business on WhatsApp, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data.

"While not everyone shops with a business on WhatsApp today, we think that more people will choose to do so in the future and it's important people are aware of these services. This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook."

The company said it was moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms.

The company further released a separate blog post Friday trying to clear up the confusion and it included a chart that specifies what information is protected when someone uses WhatsApp.