Menlo Park / Munich – With the planned change in terms of use, the popular messenger service WhatsApp is clearly not far from radical measures. It is reported by the respected US web portal TechCrunch, citing a confidential email. According to the letter to corporate customers, WhatsApp users will be asked to accept the new Terms of Use from May 15 “to get the full functionality of WhatsApp”.

If users still do not agree to the Terms of Use, there will be functional restrictions. For example, stubborn users should still be able to receive calls and messages for a transitional period of a few weeks, “but no longer read or send messages from the app”. This will shut down the main function of the messenger.

WhatsApp: If you don’t play together, you fly

In addition, users will be set to the idle state. A look at the question and answer collection (FAQ) of WhatsApp. “To maintain security, to limit data retention and to guarantee users’ data security, WhatsApp accounts are typically deleted after 120 days of inactivity,” it says in full. In other words: If you don’t play together, you fly.

WhatsApp: worldwide storm of protest

WhatsApp has been criticized for months because of the planned update. In addition, host of angry users recently discontinued popular WhatsApp competitors such as Signal or Threma.

In the wake of unexpectedly violent reactions, the Facebook assistant surprisingly extended the deadline to adopt data protection rules in mid-January. Instead of the originally planned deadline of 8 February, the new data protection rules should now take effect from 15 May. He wants to use the time to clear up misunderstandings regarding the update, it said in a blog post in January.

According to WhatsApp, the planned changes are mainly aimed at generating better opportunities of communication with companies, for example orders directly from the messenger. Facebook does not have plans for extended forwarding of data, the company assured. End-to-end encryption is also not left untouched.

WhatsApp: New Banners Should Educate Users

To smooth things over, the company also announced a few days ago that it would use a banner to notify users of planned changes in the coming weeks. Information should appear in the “Chat” tab.

It is still open to whether the action will catch up with users. However, one thing is clear: whether WhatsApp should actually forcibly log users in the near future, turning a flare-up storm of protest into a devastating storm.