By Adedapo Adesanya
The popular social messaging app, WhatsApp, has given its over 2 billion users an ultimatum, asking them to either accept the changes in its Terms of Service and privacy policy by February 8 or have their accounts deleted.
The updated policy will see the app collect and process users’ information going forward and share with Facebook, its parent company, as part of a larger unification drive between the apps.
Prior to the new development, WhatsApp gave its users the option to not have their WhatsApp account information shared with Facebook.
With the latest update, WhatsApp has done away with this option, and users will have to accept the new terms and privacy policy if they want to continue using the instant messenger.
“WhatsApp must receive or collect some information to operate, provide, improve, understand, customise, support, and market our services, including when you install, access, or use our services,” the updated policy read.
“Businesses you interact with using our services may provide us with information about their interactions with you. We require each of these businesses to act in accordance with applicable law when providing any information to us,” it further read.
WhatsApp’s new terms of service and privacy policy will come into effect on February 8.
The mobile messaging platform said that it works with third-party service providers and other Facebook companies to help it operate, provide, improve, understand, customise, support, and market its services.
“These companies may provide us with information about you in certain circumstances; for example, app stores may provide us with reports to help us diagnose and fix service issues,” it said.
WhatsApp added that if “you use our services with such third-party services or Facebook Company Products, we may receive information about you from them.
“For example, if you use the WhatsApp share button on a news service to share a news article with your WhatsApp contacts, groups, or broadcast lists on our services, or if you choose to access our services through a mobile carrier’s or device provider’s promotion of our services.”
WhatsApp also said as part of the Facebook Companies, it can make suggestions for including personalising features and content, helping them complete purchases and transactions, and showing relevant offers and ads across the Facebook Company Products.
It said this will be done along with providing integrations which enable you to connect your WhatsApp experiences with other Facebook Company Products.
The new policy may also allow users to connect their Facebook Pay account to pay for things on WhatsApp or enabling them to chat with your friends on other Facebook Company Products, such as Portal, by connecting their WhatsApp account.
Facebook CEO, Mr Mark Zuckerberg, has always made it known that he wants to merge Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp so that they can start to function a little bit more like one connected system.
The social network has already integrated Messenger rooms with WhatsApp on the Web.
While the changes may help the company provide better services, it raises several privacy concerns that do not align well with Facebook’s Privacy-Focused Vision for Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
The policy has seen drawn criticism with some users suggesting that they were switching from WhatsApp to competing platform, Telegram, which has a closed privacy policy.
Aduragbemi Omiyale