The ad in privacy policy change of the most famous messaging app in the country, the WhatsApp, led thousands of people to threaten to disable their accounts. One of the changes that stood out the most was the permission that the user needs to give the company to share their data with Facebook, the company that owns the application.
After many negative reactions, WhatsApp released a statement stating that “this update does not change data sharing practices between WhatsApp and Facebook, and does not impact how people communicate privately with their friends and family anywhere on the world”.
But if the rules have changed, something actually has to change. Understand better what these were updates and find out if it’s worth migrating to another tool.
Impact of the new privacy policy
According to data security expert Mariana Rielli, who leads the Data Privacy Brasil project, this really isn’t a big update. WhatsApp already shares the data of many of its users with Facebook, but not everyone knows it.
Since the company purchased the app in 2014 until August 2016, whoever created an account could decide whether or not to share their data. But after that time, the option was removed and sharing became mandatory.
The difference is that Facebook now wants to extend the integration of the messaging app so that companies can make more targeted ads. Among the data that can be shared are name, information about the phone (brand, model and operator), IP number and data about payments or financial transactions.
“What actually changes now is that people realized that they had no right to object to sharing their data while they were using WhatsApp services,” explained Rielli.
Is it worth migrating to Telegram?
Demand for competitors increased significantly after the privacy policy changes were announced. According to Sensor Tower, the Telegram it was downloaded 6.5 million times the week WhatsApp made the announcement and 11 million times the following week.
In the view of Marcos Simplicio, data security specialist and professor of Computer Engineering at USP, each tool has advantages and disadvantages. “For those who already put their entire personal life on Facebook, it is unlikely to make any significant difference (the change policy),” he said.
“If you’re concerned about your privacy to the point that you don’t hand over a lot of data to Facebook, then it’s a good idea to switch apps. If you like the personalization that Facebook gives you (such as ads focused on your interests), you will be winning in terms of services provided personalized for you (by making more data available)”, he concluded.
Read more: See what to do if your WhatsApp profile has been stolen
–
