WhatsApp Updates User Policy to begin sharing your info with Facebook
WhatSapp Messenger, in an updated Terms and Privacy Policy, has announced that it will begin sharing some information about its users with Facebook. You might want to pay attention to this very important piece of information because it’s coming from a company who rolled out end-to-end encryption feature for its service.
The popular messenger, with her more than one billion users, says the updated document is to reflect on new features like WhatSapp Calling. The new document popped up this morning as I was trying to go through unread messages on WhatsApp on my phone with a call-to-action; “AGREE”.
Going through the document, WhatsApp explains that it will allow Facebook to run analytics on user activity and send you friend requests for people you talk to in WhatsApp, along with various metrics that could potentially help Facebook deliver more relevant ads to its registered users. While these metrics seem a little vague, WhatsApp says they can include the last time each individual user actually used the service.
These changes are being made to reflect new features like WhatsApp Calling in the name of decreasing spam on WhatsApp, though the company also says it wants to help users better connect with businesses that matter to them, rather than just other users.
WhatsApp is also clear in saying that it won’t be showing ads on the service itself, nor will it share your number with companies that don’t fall under the Facebook family. The company also said that Facebook won’t have access to the content of your communications.
That part about Facebook not being able to see users’ content is important to note, as this privacy policy update also covers the roll out of end-to-end encryption, which is available to all users running the latest version of WhatsApp.
Still, we can image that some WhatsApp users won’t be pleased to hear that their phone numbers could end up getting shared on Facebook. WhatsApp has long been a proponent of user privacy, a focus that attracted a fair few users to the service, and this will almost certainly be seen by some as WhatsApp stepping back from the strict privacy guidelines it once held.
Whether or not that’s enough to get some people to move away from WhatsApp remains to be seen, so expect to see the company in the news again soon. Meanwhile, Siri, Apple’s personal digital assistant, will soon be able to read and send WhatsApp messages as well as make WhatsApp calls.
