Paving the way for the new controversy, WhatsApp on the 5th of Tuesday, updated its Terms of Services and its Privacy Policy. In this update, WhatsApp has been sending notifications to its users informing them about this decision. For this rollout, WhatsApp is ready to launch on 8th February 2021.
Have you spotted a pop-up on your phone sometime in the last 24 hours on WhatsApp? It is the new updated policy issued by the messenger and voice calling app.
Shockingly, the updated policy says that WhatsApp may send you marketing material about Facebook companies. Plus, the firm will use your data collected from the app and other Facebook services for content suggestions, people recommendations, and ads along with service improvements.
Most shockingly, failure to do so would lead to WhatsApp deleting your account. Well, it has paved the way for a new controversy, especially when its parent company Facebook has been in the court of law for breaching privacy laws.
Well, we have to wait until February 8, the last date to accept the changes, or maybe the other player steps in and breaks the monopoly of WhatsApp.
“WhatsApp is updating its terms and privacy policy”; this notification has been sent to both Android and iOS users. The notifications have many key updates, mainly on data processing to be noted. It stated how the company processes user data, how different businesses can use Facebook hosted services to store and manage their WhatsApp chats, and the company gets into a partnership with Facebook, its parent company, on the integration process.
The company said in the notification that is being sent both to the Android and iOS users. The notification also mentions key updates, such as how the company processes user data, how businesses can use Facebook hosted services to store and manage their WhatsApp chats, and how the company partners with Facebook, it’s a parent company, to offer integrations across the Facebook Company Product.
As far as the specifics are concerned, WhatsApp has also upgraded its official website that provides a detailed version of the information on what is exactly changing.
This is one of the changes among many that the company has made pertains to the information that it collects. “When a user forwards media within a message, we store that media temporarily in encrypted form on our servers to aid in the more efficient delivery of additional forwards,” WhatsApp wrote.
A separate section on Transactions and Payments data has also been added. If you use their payments service for any financial transactions, it needs additional information like payment account and transaction information to happen.
Payment account and transaction information include information needed to complete the transaction. If you use our payments services available in your country or territory, our privacy practices are described in the applicable payments privacy policy,” the company added.
Furthermore, WhatsApp has also renamed its ‘Affiliated Companies’ section to ‘How it operates or collaborates With Other Companies’ on Facebook. In the newly updated section, WhatsApp has shared detailed info on how the collaboration works and affects its day-to-day workings. This development also paves the way for a big shift in Facebook’s approach towards its companies from being individual entities to being a part of the company’s family of apps.
