HOUSTON: WhatsApp introduced delaying by three months the implementation of a new privacy policy that has confronted large backlash with tens of tens of millions of its customers shifting from the platform to rivals like Signal and Telegram.
The policy change was initially scheduled to return into impact on February 8, the Facebook-owned firm mentioned.
It has clarified that the replace doesn’t have an effect on knowledge sharing with Facebook with regard to non-public conversations or different profile info and solely addresses enterprise chats within the occasion a person converses with an organization’s customer support platform by WhatsApp.
“We’ve heard from so many individuals how a lot confusion there’s round our latest replace. There’s been a whole lot of misinformation inflicting concern and we wish to assist everybody perceive our rules and the information,” WhatsApp mentioned in an organization weblog.
“WhatsApp was constructed on a easy concept: what you share together with your family and friends stays between you.
“This means we’ll at all times defend your private conversations with end-to-end encryption, in order that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see these personal messages. It’s why we do not hold logs of who everybody’s messaging or calling. We can also’t see your shared location and we do not share your contacts with Facebook,” it mentioned additional.
Asserting that none of that modifications, the corporate mentioned, “The replace contains new choices individuals must message a enterprise on WhatsApp, and gives additional transparency about how we accumulate and use knowledge.
“While not everybody retailers with a enterprise on WhatsApp right now, we expect that extra individuals will select to take action sooner or later and it is necessary persons are conscious of those companies. This replace doesn’t increase our potential to share knowledge with Facebook.”
The firm mentioned it was shifting again the date on which individuals shall be requested to assessment and settle for the phrases.
“No one can have their account suspended or deleted on February 8. We’re additionally going to do much more to clear up the misinformation round how privacy and safety works on WhatsApp.
“We’ll then go to individuals progressively to assessment the policy at their very own tempo earlier than new enterprise choices can be found on May 15,” it added.
The firm launched a separate weblog submit Friday attempting to clear up the confusion, and it included a chart that specifies what info is protected when somebody makes use of WhatsApp.
Facebook executives, together with Instagram chief Adam Mosseri and WhatsApp head Will Cathcart, additionally used Twitter to attempt to clear up the confusion.
Facebook’s poor privacy observe file, and the truth that WhatsApp has over time turned its sights on monetising the platform for its massive worldwide person base, has eroded belief within the chat app, which, in flip, has had the impact of turning a comparatively mundane replace right into a worldwide controversy.
WhatsApp now says it’s now going to make use of the three-month delay to raised talk each the modifications in its new policy and its long-standing privacy practices round private chats, location sharing, and different delicate knowledge.
“We’re now shifting again the date on which individuals shall be requested to assessment and settle for the phrases,” the weblog submit reads.
The firm mentioned nobody shall be shedding entry to the app in the event that they did not comply with the new phrases of service settlement that communicated the modifications earlier this month.
“We’re additionally going to do much more to clear up the misinformation round how privacy and safety works on WhatsApp.
We’ll then go to individuals progressively to assessment the policy at their very own tempo earlier than new enterprise choices can be found on May 15,” it added.
