18 Jan WhatsApp Privacy Policy 2021
A lot has been said and written about the privacy policy of WhatsApp. The new policy explains how the user data will be affected when there is a business communication on the platform and also gives more information on its collaboration with Facebook, which is WhatsApp’s parent company.
The interplay between Facebook and WhatsApp is more clearly seen while talking about messages to business, where this new privacy policy has been implemented. Thereby, WhatsApp has faced trust issues from its users. However, to clear the misconceptions, WhatsApp has even released a statement saying that no private chats or critical location data will be shared with Facebook. In addition to this, WhatsApp also clarified that some of the business communication done on the social channel might be readable and used for advertising purposes.
Following this trust-crisis, even many corporates now have asked their employees to avoid sharing any sort of business information on their WhatsApp handle.
Nevertheless, WhatsApp has cleared out the air in its latest statement to rectify the misinformation people are having about it. Some of them are discussed below.
1. What type of data will WhatsApp share with Facebook?
The exchange of data with Facebook is already happening. However, the users in the European Union still have the choice of opting out of data sharing with Facebook, but the rest of the world does not have this privilege yet.
Currently, WhatsApp only shares this information with Facebook and its other organizations: transaction data (WhatsApp now has payment gateway in India), information on interaction with other businesses, IP address, account registration information, service-oriented information, and mobile device information. In fact, information on device hardware is also being collected.
2. Will WhatsApp use your data for ads?
Till now, WhatsApp is not indulged in showcasing any sorts of ads yet. Also, the reported plans seem to have been postponed. If the user is worried that their private interactions will be used to facilitate ads on WhatsApp, that would not occur because these are encrypted.
However, the rising data sharing with Facebook will be used to enhance ad experiences over other products of the organization.
3. What is the policy about data sharing with businesses?
The new policy fairly explains how the business gets the data when a user communicates with them on this channel; as the content shared with the business on WhatsApp could be seen by all other people in that business. It is vital to know that business accounts on WhatsApp have risen to 50 million. This is certainly a potential monetization model for WhatsApp.
Businesses are now leveraging third-party service providers, including Facebook, to get assistance for managing customer interactions. WhatsApp even recommends its users to contact the company directly and go through the privacy policy themselves to understand how the company is handling the information.
4. Will the personal messages on WhatsApp be shared with Facebook?
WhatsApp clearly declares that it has end-to-end encryption for messages and no third-party can access it. Thus, the privacy policy for personal chats remains the same as before, with no sharing with Facebook.
WhatsApp has announced that the new update does not hamper the way you interact with your friends and family. It has its words for being committed to protecting the privacy policy.
5. Why is the hype for data exchange with Facebook?
The reasoning for data exchange with Facebook is to fight against spam in order to improve user experience as well as ensuring better security, these were also maintained in the past policy as well.
The new policy reflects the strong amalgamation of WhatsApp into the Facebook group of companies. As per the CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it is ‘interoperability’ justifying his vision for cross-platform across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger.
The collaboration is happening since the unification of Facebook Messenger and Instagram’s Direct Messages into a feature called Rooms.
6. Does WhatsApp stores messages?
No. The message once delivered is automatically deleted from the company’s server, as per the new policy. If a message ‘Cannot be delivered’, then it is saved in the system for approximately 30 days in encrypted form and it is continuously tried for delivery by WhatsApp. After that, even that is deleted from the server.
7. Is it mandatory to accept a privacy policy?
Currently, it is a standard practice implemented uniformly across all platforms. If the user is not ready to accept it, then they can delete their accounts and switch to other prevalent services in the market.
Apparently, many people are moving to Signal after deleting WhatsApp. The Signal is a free messaging app, giving end-to-end encryption. It has gained momentum after the policy update by WhatsApp.
CONCLUSION
WhatsApp’s new terms of the privacy policy and terms of service will be applicable from February 8, 2021. If the users want to continue with the service, they must agree to the terms & conditions. Otherwise, they won’t be able to use it after 8th February.
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