The new conditions imposed by the messaging service have alarmed many users as those who refuse to accept them will no longer be able to access their accounts from February 8.
The famous messaging app WhatsApp came under fire on Thursday for asking its 2 billion users to agree to new terms of use, allowing it to share more data with its parent company Facebook.
Users who decline will no longer be able to access their accounts from February 8.
On Twitter, many users were alarmed on Thursday that they gave their consent without reading the changes in detail.
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Depending on the notification that appears on your WhatsApp, important updates may collect the following information:
– “The WhatsApp Service and How We Treat Your Data.”
– “How Businesses Can Use Facebook’s Hosted Services to Store and Manage Their WhatsApp Chats.”
It warns you that the measure will take effect from February 8 and that after that date you must at least subscribe to the conditions to continue using the platform.
Photo recording from social networks.
What do these updates mean?
The group wants to monetize its platform by enabling advertisers to contact their customers via WhatsApp, or even sell their products directly in the application, as is already the case in India.
“Updating the confidentiality policy is common in the industry and we are providing users with all the information necessary to verify the changes that will take effect on February 8,” a group spokesperson said in a statement to AFP.
According to the company, the data that can be shared between WhatsApp and the Facebook application ecosystem (including Instagram and Messenger) includes contacts and profile information, except for the content of messages.
Facebook acquired the WhatsApp messaging service in 2014 for $ 22 billion. Photo / AFP
According to a publication by Infobae, these are the data WhatsApp will share with its Facebook companies:
– Account registration information, such as phone number.
– Operational data.
– Information related to the service.
– Information about how the user interacts with others, including companies.
– Information about the mobile device (battery charge, internet service provider, signal strength, hardware model, operating system …).
– IP address.
But the new conditions differ between the European Union and the rest of the world. In the case of the EU and UK, they will only be used to develop the functionalities offered to professional WhatsApp Business accounts, the company explained to AFP.
“WhatsApp does not share the data of its users in Europe with Facebook so that Facebook can use this data to improve its products or advertisements,” said a spokesperson for the platform.
Asked by AFP, the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (CNIL), a French internet regulation, recalled that an investigation had been conducted since 2017 into the consequences of Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp for $ 22,000 million in 2014, including the terms of data transfer.
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