WhatsApp to Mandatorily Share Data With Facebook Starting Feb. 8
WhatsApp on Wednesday alerted users of an update to its update to its terms of service and privacy policy that's expected to go into effect on February 8, 2021.
The "key updates" concern how it processes user data, "how businesses can use Facebook hosted services to store and manage their WhatsApp chats," and "how we partner with Facebook to offer integrations across the Facebook Company Products."
Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014.
The mandatory changes allow WhatsApp to share more user data with other Facebook companies, including account registration information, phone numbers, transaction data, service-related information, interactions on the platform, mobile device information, IP address, and other data collected based on users' prior consent.
Other changes in the privacy policy highlight how other Facebook companies may use the information collected from WhatsApp to improve infrastructure and delivery systems, promote safety, and offer personalised suggestions.
Unsurprisingly, this data sharing policy with Facebook and its other services doesn't apply to EU states that are part of the European Economic Area (EEA), which are governed by the GDPR data protection regulations.
The updates to WhatsApp terms and privacy policy come on the heels of Facebook's "privacy-focused vision" to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger together and provide a more coherent experience to users across its services.
They are also an about-turn from the previously enforced policy (July 20, 2020), which gave users an option to not to have their WhatsApp account information shared with Facebook to improve the company's ads and products.
Users failing to agree to the harsh ultimatum by the cut-off date will have no choice but to stop using WhatsApp altogether or have their accounts deleted.
The "key updates" concern how it processes user data, "how businesses can use Facebook hosted services to store and manage their WhatsApp chats," and "how we partner with Facebook to offer integrations across the Facebook Company Products."
Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014.
The mandatory changes allow WhatsApp to share more user data with other Facebook companies, including account registration information, phone numbers, transaction data, service-related information, interactions on the platform, mobile device information, IP address, and other data collected based on users' prior consent.
Other changes in the privacy policy highlight how other Facebook companies may use the information collected from WhatsApp to improve infrastructure and delivery systems, promote safety, and offer personalised suggestions.
Unsurprisingly, this data sharing policy with Facebook and its other services doesn't apply to EU states that are part of the European Economic Area (EEA), which are governed by the GDPR data protection regulations.
The updates to WhatsApp terms and privacy policy come on the heels of Facebook's "privacy-focused vision" to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger together and provide a more coherent experience to users across its services.
They are also an about-turn from the previously enforced policy (July 20, 2020), which gave users an option to not to have their WhatsApp account information shared with Facebook to improve the company's ads and products.
Users failing to agree to the harsh ultimatum by the cut-off date will have no choice but to stop using WhatsApp altogether or have their accounts deleted.
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