WhatsApp Privacy Policy 2021. WhatsApp is undoubtedly the world’s leading chat application with more than 2 billion users.
The application is widely used by both the young and old in society for its instant messaging and status-viewing features.
According to statistics, status viewing is the most used feature of the application presently.
Despite the large success of the application across the globe, there seems to be a major issue militating against its growth in recent years.
The platform has been faced with numerous reports of data leakage and its associated issues.
Earlier, there were reports of data leakages on Facebook (the parent company which owns WhatsApp). For this reason, many people are of the view that WhatsApp might be in the same situation too.
Then came the bomb itself. WhatsApp reviewed its privacy policy towards the end of 2020. As part of the new policy, users are to accept a data access policy or else they wouldn’t be allowed to use the platform any more.
The initial deadline sent in the policy update was 8th February 2021. This has generated lots of conversations on social media. Many people have since opted to use signal and telegram.
Now, in this article, we seek to educate you on what the privacy policy is about and if WhatsApp is safe. If it’s a good thing. Whom it benefits and what impact it would have on you as an individual user.
Kindly stick and stay to find out more on this site.
What Does The New Whatsapp Privacy Policy Say?
The new WhatsApp privacy policy says that WhatsApp now reserves the right to share your data with other Facebook products (Facebook and Instagram).
This is not so much of news to people who have been using the app before 2016. In the year 2016, a similar update came except that it was optional for users to accept.
However, in the new update, it was made compulsory for everyone. Meaning, if you don’t accept the offer, you’ll be kicked off the instant chatting application.
The deadline for accepting the new policy was previously announced as 8th February 2021.
According to the owners of the app, the new update is to enable Facebook to provide better services such as marketing other Facebook services.
Is WhatsApp Really Stealing Your Data?
The answer is No! WhatsApp is an end-to-end encrypted application which only has access to data you are willing to share with them. This means that WhatsApp cannot have access to any message you send to another person or group.
WhatsApp is only like a carrier. It carries the message from your phone to the other person’s phone without keeping a copy. That’s why if you don’t back up your WhatsApp chats and there’s a crush, you tend to lose everything.
Meanwhile, on Facebook, your chats remain there until you decide to delete them yourself. Even if your phone gets damaged and you buy a new one, you can always access your Facebook messages. That’s how different WhatsApp is from Facebook in terms of data.
WhatsApp is completely between you and the one you are texting. The only instances under which WhatsApp can access your information is:
- When you send a message to someone and the message isn’t delivered. In this case, the message is stored in WhatsApp’s system for 30 days in an attempt to deliver it. After 30 days, if the message is still not delivered, it is automatically deleted.
- When someone forwards an image to another person on WhatsApp. The file is saved for a few hours to enable the smooth forwarding of the file such that even if the original owner deletes it, it’s still available to the new recipient of the image.
So, in the nutshell, WhatsApp doesn’t access any private information you share with others on their platform. They only have access to your phone number, when you registered for the service, the parts of the service you use (status, chat, group).
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Who Benefits From The Policy?
There are two answers to this same question. There is the simple answer and there’s the long answer.
The simple answer is Facebook and Business owners. The lengthy answer is written below.
Facebook makes over 98% of its revenues through advertisement. And this happens primarily on all of its services apart from WhatsApp. Facebook doesn’t make a penny off WhatsApp. This makes it a point of worry for the new media giant.
With over 2 billion users, if you’re unable to make some money, it should be a worry to you. And that’s why Facebook is not happy. Don’t forget that Mark and his team paid USD 19 Billion to acquire WhatsApp in the year 2014.
So now, Facebook thinks they’ve had enough and want to start making money off WhatsApp in the year 2021.
To do this, they’ll need to know how people interact with Business accounts on WhatsApp. This will enable them to advertise WhatsApp payment and Facebook pay systems to a targeted audience based on their activities on WhatsApp.
So at the end of the day, Facebook makes some more money and businesses using WhatsApp business accounts also get to benefit some more.
Final Words
The rumours about Facebook getting people’s personal data through WhatsApp and selling the same to other companies is a complete lie and fuelled by less-informed people.
Facebook is a tech conglomerate worth Billions of Dollars. They in their own capacity need data collected from their users in order to make more money from advertisers so it’ll do them no good to sell their data to others. Facebook actually wants people to spend more time on its website.
So the more people get to see things that fit their desire and needs on Facebook, the more they stay and the more Facebook makes money from ads!
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WhatsApp is also an end-to-end encrypted application. Which means only you and the one you’re sending a message to can have access to all messages shared on the app.
So, WhatsApp doesn’t have access to your private messages in order to send them over to the mother company (Facebook).
It’s an outrageous lie peddled on the internet by people who know little about data.
Frankly speaking, if you are considering your data privacy, then don’t use Facebook itself. Because Facebook practically trades on your data to make money from advertisers who advertise on the Facebook platform.
So, simply put, you are safe on WhatsApp. Facebook and WhatsApp have a lot of differences and data protection are one!
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