News of the update resulted in millions of new downloads for rival services such as Telegram and Signal. However, WhatsApp is going ahead with the privacy changes despite the criticism.
WhatsApp has said that the controversial change to its privacy terms, which would see the creation of limited data sharing with Facebook, its parent company, will now go ahead as planned.
WhatsApp’s privacy policy update, which would allow the messaging platform to share some user data with Facebook, was supposed to go into effect on February 8. However, public reaction led WhatsApp to delay implementation three months, until May 15. At this time, they would clarify the details of what the agreement entailed.
WhatsApp goes ahead with privacy changes despite criticism
Under the new privacy policy, WhatsApp will be able to share limited user data with Facebook and its group companies. By doing this, they would allow companies to use the platform for customer service purposes.
However, the company said that this would not affect the personal conversations of users and that the user will be the last to decide whether “want to interact with companies or not“. This could be read on a blog post.
He also added that “Will clearly label the chats” so users know when companies were managing their conversations using Facebook. The implementation of the update would first result in the display of banners that provide additional information on the new terms.
Acceptance of the new terms will be mandatory in order to continue using the messaging platform. This same rule a few months ago led millions of users to download alternative apps like Telegram and Signal.
As a result, WhatsApp went from being the 8th most downloaded app in the UK to the 23rd most downloaded on January 12, as the debate on the update began to gather momentum.
By contrast, Telegram and Signal gained 25 million and 7.5 million users respectively during the same period. This resulted in a brief crash of the Signal servers. However, it is unclear how many of these users left WhatsApp entirely.
The soap opera continues
WhatsApp acknowledged that “Could have done better” and told users that “will do much more to make your voice clear in the future“. They will do this by using the Status feature of their application to share information about updates and company values directly with users.
He also addressed the massive acceptance of downloads from Signal and Telegram and said he understands that “Some people may look at other apps to see what they have to offer.”
“We’ve seen some of our competitors try to get away with saying they can’t see people’s messages. If an application does not offer end-to-end encryption by default, it means that those messages can be read ”. This was stated by WhatsApp in the blog post. “Other apps say they are better because they know even less information than WhatsApp. We believe that people are looking for applications that are reliable and secure, even if this requires WhatsApp to have some limited data. ”
“We strive to reflect on the decisions we make and will continue to develop new ways of meeting these responsibilities with less information.”
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