New WhatsApp privacy policy comes into force
Instead of a hard cutoff, Whatsapp will gradually degrade and eventually cease to function
(Web Desk) – AT THE START OF 2021, WhatsApp took the step of updating its terms of use and privacy policy, mostly focused on the app’s business offerings. The changes sparked a major backlash because they inadvertently highlighted WhatsApp’s years-old policy of sharing certain user data, like phone numbers, with parent company Facebook.
Rather than change the policy that sparked the controversy, WhatsApp instead moved the deadline for users to accept it from the original date of February 8 to Saturday.
WhatsApp originally indicated in February that anyone who declined the updates would immediately lose functionality. But the company has since opted to let the wheels very gradually come off the car over several weeks before the app careens into a ditch and stops working altogether.
“For the last several weeks we’ve displayed a notification in WhatsApp providing more information about the update,” the company said in a statement. “After giving everyone time to review, we’re continuing to remind those who haven’t had the chance to do so to review and accept. After a period of several weeks, the reminder people receive will eventually become persistent.”
The strength of the backlash likely caught WhatsApp off-guard, given that it reminded users of an existing policy rather than creating a new one. Mere days after WhatsApp first announced the changes on January 4, the messaging app Telegram said it had gained tens of millions of users, and Signal boasted “unprecedented” growth. In an attempt to staunch the bleeding, WhatsApp delayed the full rollout of the new policies for months so users would have more time to learn about the changes.
