Facebook has gotten back on its plans to implement a new privacy policy that will force users to share their private information with WhatsApp, its messaging app.
Last week, WhatsApp notified its users of the updates to its terms of use and privacy policy, which include allowing Facebook and its subsidiaries to collect their data.
The info includes the user’s phone numbers, location, contacts in the address book and financial transactions made on WhatsApp.
Users can either agree to the changes immediately or postpone this decision until later. However, on February 8, the messaging application will be inaccessible to those who have not accepted the new rules. WhatsApp has been owned by Facebook since 2014.
read more
The changes have raised concerns about data collection and privacy.
Questions are being asked about what information WhatsApp collects from its two billion users and what it shares with its sister companies such as Facebook, Messenger and Instagram.
Mugambi Laibuta, who advises companies on privacy and data protection, tweeted that Whatspp’s new data rules violated the Kenyan Data Protection Act, 2019.
Give explicit consent
“If you don’t accept the new terms, you won’t enjoy the service … This goes against the principle of freely given consent,” he tweeted. “Ideally, we have the right under the Personal Data Protection Act to object to WhatsApp’s actions … WhatsApp wants to use our data for commercial purposes. Under Section 37, they must obtain our express consent or they are against the law. ”
Rival messenger applications such as Telegram have sent sarcastic messages at WhatsApp’s expense. Telegram tweeted a GIF of dancing carriers yesterday with an image of WhatsApp’s new data lines on top of the chest.
But WhatsApp has defended its new policy, saying the data will be used to personalize ads.
“Facebook and other companies in the Facebook family may also use information from us to improve your experience on their services, such as making product suggestions (for example, from friends or connections, or interesting content) and displaying relevant offers and advertisements,” the the company said.
Since WhatsApp was notified of the changes, downloads from Signal, a competing messaging app, have increased, making the application the most downloaded on the App Store.
Signal was developed by one of the creators of WhatsApp, Brian Acton, who sold their app to Facebook in 2014. He left the company in 2017 and co-founded the Signal Foundation that develops the Signal.
WhatsApp has tried to clear the air. “It is important for us to be clear that this update describes business communications and does not change the way WhatsApp shares data with Facebook.
“It doesn’t affect the way people communicate privately with friends or family, wherever they are in the world,” said Will Cathcart, the WhatsApp on Twitter.