WhatsApp has said it will push back a planned policy update to give users time to review its terms amid fears that the platform owned by Facebook will share private data with its parent company and thus a mass migration from the app will help.
The chat application announced on Friday that it will delay the update until mid-May, with the blame “Confusion” and “Incorrect information” for growing privacy issues among customers, while insisting that it will not hand over additional user data, such as private messages, to Facebook.
“We will always protect your personal conversations with end-to-end encryption so that WhatsApp and Facebook cannot see these private messages,” said the company. “That’s why we do not keep track of who is sending or calling messages. We also cannot see your shared location, nor do we share your contacts with Facebook. ”
This update does not extend our ability to share data with Facebook.
We will make sure that users have enough time to review and understand the terms. Rest assured that we never intended to delete any accounts based on this, nor will we do so in the future.
– WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) 15 January 2021
Earlier this month, the chat platform notified users of the upcoming policy update and pointed out that it will include new messaging options to WhatsApp businesses, but also that customers have until February 8 to accept the changes or otherwise lock them out of their accounts . The notice quickly raised fears that the update would mean significant changes in the way WhatsApp shares data, namely with its parent company Facebook.
Although the company vehemently denied rumors of more intrusive data expression, the concern nonetheless sparked a major exodus from the platform, leading many users to competing chat programs. On Friday, Signal said it was experiencing a global outage due to “Millions upon millions” of the new users flocking to the platform and saying they were like that “Send a message that privacy matters.” Telegram, meanwhile, counted about 5.6 million downloads in less than a week earlier this month via Apptopia, saying it has gained more than 25 million new users in the past 72 hours. All that WhatsApp’s downloads have seen is down from 12.7 million to 10.6 million compared to last week, according to sensor app tracker Sensor Tower.
Sorry, we migrated all family and friends to another platform. You should have thought things through before selling our privacy and doing business with it. Goodbye WhatsApp.
– Teban D. (@tebanrhcp) 15 January 2021
The flight from WhatsApp was helped last week after billionaire technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, now the world’s richest man, begged his Twitter followers to “Use signal” in the wake of WhatsApp’s announced update.
While WhatsApp boasts of its commitment to communication security and end-to-end encryption, the platform has come under fire in the past for its data-sharing practice. The company announced in 2016 that it would start sharing user data with Facebook, such as linking customers’ phone numbers to the social media link and sending data for targeted ads. The Electronic Information Center for Privacy – a non-profit-based Washington-DC – filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission at the time, arguing that the policy change was a “Unfair and Misleading Trading Practices,” but the move had little effect.
READ MORE: WhatsApp private chat groups re-exposed on Google search
However, under the 2016 policy, users were given a one-time opportunity to choose to send data to Facebook. The option is no longer available under the update, which now takes effect on May 15 and will force customers to submit their information as a condition of using the platform.
As of today, WhatsApp now shares a larger amount of data with its parent company, including “Transaction data, service-related information, information about dealing with others (including businesses) … information about mobile devices, your IP address,” while the company says it may also share “other information” specified elsewhere in its privacy policy.
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