WhatsApp Privacy Update

WhatsApp Privacy Update: Users Who Don’t Accept Policy Won’t Be Able to Read/Send Messages

Earlier this year WhatsApp caused a massive hysteria due to its privacy policy. Users were outraged at the company’s attempt to use their data. Consequently, users left the popular messaging platform and flocked towards Telegram and Signal. After the online fury and backlash, WhatsApp retreated and postponed the update. Since then it has been rolling one feature after another to appease its users and to avoid trouble. According to TechCrunch, WhatsApp is all set to release its new privacy policy and has stated what will happen to those users who do not comply with the new policies.

What will happen if you don’t accept the policy?

It has been reported that WhatsApp has been informing their merchants via email that it will gradually ask their users to accept the new privacy policy “to have full functionality” of the app. The said email also mentioned the public WhatsApp page which has been appropriately titled, “What happens on the effective date?

The aforementioned page states that while WhatsApp will not delete accounts that do not accept the privacy policies however they will not be able to use it like they normally would. WhatsApp wrote, “If you haven’t accepted by then, WhatsApp will not delete your account. However, you won’t have the full functionality of WhatsApp until you accept. For a short time, you’ll be able to receive calls and notifications, but won’t be able to read or send messages from the app.”

Moreover, users who do not accept the policies by the May 15 deadline will be considered “inactive”. In this case, the users will be subjected subject to WhatsApp’s existing policy on that front. WhatsApp further elaborates, “To maintain security, limit data retention, and protect the privacy of our users, WhatsApp accounts are generally deleted after 120 days of inactivity. “Content stored locally on a user’s device prior to account deletion will remain until WhatsApp is deleted from the device. When a user reregisters for WhatsApp on the same device, their locally stored content will reappear.”

As to if WhatsApp will start deleting accounts after 120 days is still unclear. WhatsApp has also been busy trying to restore user’s confidence by telling users it does not plan on misusing their data or monetize it. No personal data will be shared with its parent company, Facebook. However, it is worth mentioning that WhatsApp has been sharing basic metadata with Facebook, such as phones make anonymous identifiers, since 2016.

It has been made apparent by WhatsApp that the policy will not affect user’s chats with family and friends, only the business chats are affected. On Thursday, WhatsApp announced that it would start displaying a banner in the app providing more information about its privacy policy. “Eventually, we’ll start reminding people to review and accept these updates to keep using WhatsApp,” WhatsApp said.

In this particular announcement, WhatsApp mentioned that it was important that people knew “how we can provide WhatsApp for free.” It will charge businesses to provide “customer service” on the app and gets Facebook involved so that businesses can manage their inventory across apps.

The Bottom Line

WhatsApp has been tirelessly working on regaining user’s trust. Ever since the initial announcement of the privacy policy update, it has been rolling out updates after updates and has made it clear that personal data sharing will not be carried out. Additionally, chats are still end-to-end encrypted. It is understandable why users are still reluctant to use the messaging platform since its parent company, Facebook has a reputation of misusing data. We’ll have to wait and see how much this update affects the functionality of the applications and if most users comply.

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