WhatsApp and User Data: Campaign for New Terms of Use

After postponing the new terms of use, WhatsApp dared to make a fresh effort to communicate the changes and get approval. May 15 is the deadline now. A campaign should ensure that there is no misunderstanding and misinformation. Because according to the messenger, these were the reason for the postponement.

WhatsApp insists that all private messages are encrypted end-to-end, neither you nor Facebook can read them. There has never been any doubt till now. There was a problem with the privacy policy and there is a lack of clarity about sharing data with parent company Facebook.

No information about data

“We believe that people want apps that are both reliable and secure. WhatsApp requires a limited amount of data for this,” says a newly created landing page that should contain all the information. It is not stated what specific data it is. Eventually, the supervising agency writes that WhatsApp does not share a contact list with Facebook. According to the FAQ, only phone numbers are accessed.

Following the publication of the new data protection guidelines, the allegation was that WhatsApp had at one point written to share data with Facebook for marketing purposes. Elsewhere, however, the restriction is not to use them for their own purposes. In the case of Facebook, it is again stated that all data in the Facebook family will be used for merger and advertising purposes.

WhatsApp also emphasizes harassing other messengers: “We saw some of our rivals making false claims that they can’t see users’ messages.” And: “Other apps claim to be better because they have less information than WhatsApp.” At least you know what information they have from other messengers.

Otherwise, the new Terms of Use refer to communication with companies that provide their services and customer service through WhatsApp. It added: “Facebook is involved in some shopping functions so that companies can manage their inventory during the app.”

(emw)