WhatsApp: Us, We and Them.
If you’ve been following, WhatsApp don put us for high jump, as it stands. They announced, a few days ago, that come February 2021, they will be sharing user data with Facebook and that this information might be used by third parties.
WhatsApp used to pride itself on user privacy, encrypted messages, user data security and what not, but I guess a new tide is here. On top of alladat, there’s no escaping these new rules. It’s only going to be a matter of time before you as a user are forced to accede and commit to them.
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They claim that they will be sharing this data with Facebook because they (Facebook and WhatsApp) are a family of companies and that it will all be for the better. As in, better services, better user experience, et cetera.
Of course, people like me have started to panic. What’s going on gan gan? Abi sey na signal way? Can we still share content? Well, they are saying that the info in question won’t be chats per se, because these are encrypted; but it will be the other stuff like pictures, names, phone numbers and the one they are calling diagnostic data that will and can be shared. I can also hear something about how users of the app in the European region can relax, since there’ll be no changes to how their data is used, whether or not they consent to the new terms.
“The really significant recent update is that WhatsApp has added new features to allow people to communicate with businesses- and those businesses could be hosted by Facebook. When speaking to those contacts, messages might be stored and managed by Facebook and so those conversations could be shared with the company more generally.” — The Independent.
Privacy experts, what say ye?
