WhatsApp announced in January that users must allow it to share data with its parent company Facebook, which resulted in millions of users downloading apps from competitors such as Signal. Government officials in India — WhatsApp’s largest market with over 340m users — asked WhatsApp to withdraw its planned changes. Despite this, WhatsApp are going ahead with these changes to its terms of service.
WhatsApp already shares information with Facebook, such as your IP address and information about your phone, as well as purchases made via the platform. Europe and the UK have different privacy laws which state users must permit the sharing of data, however, almost all users have previously accepted the type of data sharing involved in order to use the app.
The backlash highlights how unaware users were of how their data is being used until the recent announcements. WhatsApp stated that it has reflected on what it could have done better, and as to how its data sharing could be clearer explained.
The changes will allow more data sharing for the interactions users have with businesses on the platform, as well as paving the way for purchases and transactions directly on the platform. This follows the lead of platforms such as WeChat, on which users can do things such as get their credit score, order food deliveries and do their banking – all without ever leaving the app. The concern with WhatsApp is that this change is the first step to compromising personal conversations in the future, in order to enable wider services like these.
WhatsApp will now display a banner alert within the app in the coming weeks that encourages users to learn more about the update and changes. Messages informing users of the update will also be displayed in the status section. The new terms are scheduled to come into effect on 15 May, and users will have to accept them in order to continue using WhatsApp.