The world largest instant messaging app has since been faced with lots of criticisms after announcing the update of its privacy policy. Which has boosted the users of the application’s competitors (Signal and Telegram).
In its bid to clarify the misconception and rumours about the policy, WhatsApp has provided answers to some of these issues.
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(1) The Policy only affects Business Accounts: In one of the company’s recent publication, WhatsApp clarified that the updated policy does not affect individual account, rather business account.
“We want to be clear that the policy update does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way. The changes are related to optional business features on WhatsApp, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data,” WhatsApp clarified.
(2) The Policy will Take Effect from May 15: The Policy which was formely by WhatsApp to be implemented on February 8 has been postponed by the organisation to May 15, 2021.
WhatsApp said: “We’re now moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms. No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8. We’re also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security works on WhatsApp. We’ll then go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15.”
(3) Personal Conversations remain protected with End-to-end Encryption: WhatsApp has also assured that the policy is not a breach in its protection of conversations with end-to-end encryption.
“WhatsApp was built on a simple idea: what you share with your friends and family stays between you. This means we will always protect your personal conversations with end-to-end encryption, so that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see these private messages. It’s why we don’t keep logs of who everyone’s messaging or calling. We also can’t see your shared location and we don’t share your contacts with Facebook.”
(4) WhatsApp will not Delete your Account: WhatsApp has annonced that no account will be deleted on its effective date. Although, it announced that users “will not have full functionality of WhatsApp until acceptance of the policy.