HIGHLIGHTS
WhatsApp has finally come out to defend its updated privacy policy.
"Our privacy policy update does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family", the company said in a tweet.
The company updated its privacy policy earlier this month, and it goes into effect from February 8, 2020.
WhatsApp users have raised security issues ever since the Facebook-owned messaging app has updated its new privacy policy. However, WhatsApp has now released an official statement clearing the air about the rumours and speculations surrounding new terms of service and policies. WhatsApp has said that the policy update does not affect users’ privacy with friends or family.
Addressing some of the grave concerns of users regarding the privacy policies, WhatsApp has said in a blog, “We recently updated our Privacy Policy, and we have received many thoughtful questions. With some of the rumours going around, we want to answer some of the common questions we have received. We go to great lengths to build WhatsApp in a way that helps people communicate privately. We want to be clear that the policy update does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way. Instead, this update includes changes related to messaging a business on WhatsApp, which is optional, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data.”
There has been zero clarity about what WhatsApp meant when it announced an updated privacy policy. It was being speculated that WhatsApp will now have access to users' private chats and inject ads between the chats or on Facebook based on the conversation. The rumours and lack of clarity forced many users to migrate to Signal, which is now considered more secure than WhatsApp.
However, WhatsApp has now categorically addressed the concerns of the users. WhatsApp has said that the messaging app can neither see your private messages nor hear your calls, and neither can Facebook. It does not keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling. The Facebook-owned messaging app cannot see your shared location, and neither can Facebook. WhatsApp does not share your contact list with Facebook. Contrary to the rumours, the groups remain private. “We use group membership to deliver messages and to protect our service from spam and abuse. We don’t share this data with Facebook for ad purposes. Again, these private chats are end-to-end encrypted, so we can’t see their content,” WhatsApp said in the blog.
Earlier, WhatsApp had sent an in-app notification to the users about its new terms of service and privacy policy. WhatsApp’s new term of service and privacy policy will go live on February 8, 2020. To continue using the services, users will have to accept the terms and conditions. If the users do not accept the new terms of service, they will no longer be able to use the app from February 8.
