{"id":41802,"date":"2021-02-19T14:51:15","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T14:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/?guid=1a3b2ac2c7ef2150b862b2f9808fc5eb"},"modified":"2021-02-19T14:51:15","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T14:51:15","slug":"whatsapp-presses-ahead-with-privacy-changes-despite-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/whatsapp-presses-ahead-with-privacy-changes-despite-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"WhatsApp presses ahead with privacy changes despite backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n Sabina Weston<\/a><\/span>
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19 Feb, 2021<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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WhatsApp<\/a> has said that a controversial change to its privacy<\/a> terms that would see the creation of a limited data sharing agreement with its parent company Facebook will now going ahead as planned.<\/p>\n

The update to WhatsApp\u2019s privacy policy, which would allow the messaging platform to share some user data with Facebook<\/a>, was supposed to come into effect on 8 February. However, public backlash prompted WhatsApp to delay the implementation by three months<\/a>, to 15 May, in order to clarify the details of what the agreement would entail.<\/p>\n

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Under the new privacy policy, WhatsApp will be able to\u00a0share limited user data with Facebook and its group firms in order to\u00a0allow businesses to use the platform for customer service purposes.<\/p>\n

However, the company said that this\u00a0would not affect users’ personal conversations and that it will be up to the user to decide whether they\u00a0“want to engage with businesses, or not”,\u00a0 according to a blog post on Thursday<\/a>. It also added that it will “clearly label chats” in order to make users aware when businesses are managing their conversations using Facebook, and the\u00a0implementation of the update will\u00a0first result in the displaying of banners providing additional information on the new terms.<\/p>\n

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Accepting the new terms will be compulsory in order to continue using the messaging platform, a rule that last month led to millions\u00a0of users downloading alternative apps such as Telegram and Signal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a result. WhatsApp fell from being the eighth most downloaded app in the UK at the start of the year, to the 23rd most downloaded by 12 January<\/a>, when discussion around the update started gaining momentum.<\/p>\n

By contrast, Telegram and Signal gained 25 million and 7.5 million users<\/a> respectively during the same period, resulting in a brief crash of Signal’s servers. However, it’s unclear how many of these users still have WhatsApp installed, so it’s difficult to assess how many users WhatsApp lost entirely as a result of the move.<\/p>\n

WhatsApp acknowledged that it \u201ccould have done better\u201d and told users that it will be \u201cdoing much more to make [its] voice clear going forward\u201d by using its app\u2019s Status feature to share information on updates and company values directly to its users.<\/p>\n

It also addressed the mass uptake in Signal and Telegram downloads, saying that it understands that \u201csome people may check out other apps to see what they have to offer\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen some of our competitors try to get away with claiming they can\u2019t see people\u2019s messages – if an app doesn\u2019t offer end-to-end encryption<\/a> by default that means they can read your messages,” the company stated in its blog post. “Other apps say they\u2019re better because they know even less information than WhatsApp. We believe people are looking for apps to be both reliable and safe, even if that requires WhatsApp having some limited data.<\/p>\n

“We strive to be thoughtful on the decisions we make and we\u2019ll continue to develop new ways of meeting these responsibilities with less information, not more,\u201d it added. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sabina Weston<\/p>\n

19 Feb, 2021 <\/p>\n

WhatsApp has said that a controversial change to its privacy terms that would see the creation of a limited data sharing agreement with its parent company Facebook will now going ahead as plann…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/627"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41802"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41813,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41802\/revisions\/41813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}