WhatsApp is delaying updating its privacy policy due to “confusion”

NY. The messaging application WhatsApp decided this Friday to postpone the update to its privacy policy, scheduled for February 8, to address the “ confusion ” about the use of data with Facebook, its parent company, and its new options aimed at selling products.

The update to the privacy policy has raised many doubts and misinformation as to whether it meant that Facebook could access personal information, contacts or conversations on WhatsApp, the most used messaging application in the world.

You can also read: Telegram and Signal are gaining popularity after the WhatsApp fiasco

It also raised doubts that by not accepting the new terms of use, the user would lose their account and the app disappear from their phone.

“We are going to postpone the date when people will be asked about the review and acceptance of the terms. No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8. We will also do more to resolve misinformation about how privacy and security works on WhatsApp. “the company said in a statement.

Facebook and its popular messaging subsidiary have tried several times to deny that with the new rules they will be able to access message or call content, as well as contact lists or groups or shared geolocation.

In this Friday’s statement, WhatsApp assured that “this update does not increase” the ability to “share data with Facebook” and promised to explain the new usage policy without haste “before business options are available on May 15th”.

Several media outlets have reported that the new privacy terms will include a more open language, prompting speculation that Facebook will be able to access WhatsApp data, while the company has insisted that everything responds to a greater role and functionality to communicate with . doing business and making purchases.

“While people don’t use WhatsApp to buy from companies today, we think more people will choose to do so in the future and it’s important for the world to be aware of these services”the statement said.

The messaging application, with about 2 billion users, fears a massive exodus to Telegram and Signal, which have positioned themselves as the most jealous when it comes to preventing the collection and use of their users’ metadata, despite the fact that WhatsApp also encrypts the conversations.

Many groups have used the confusion about WhatsApp to spread disinformation about Facebook’s use of private data, which has also been heavily criticized in the United States by groups of all kinds, firstly for failing to master the language of white supremacist groups and, then for prohibiting access.