On Friday, the WhatsApp messaging application decided to delay updating its privacy policy, scheduled for February 8th, to clarify the “confusion” regarding data use with Facebook, the parent company, and its new options that focus on selling products.
The privacy policy update raised a lot of suspicion and misinformation Whether that means Facebook access to personal data, contacts or conversations made on WhatsApp, the world’s most used messaging app.
It also raised doubts about whether by not accepting the new terms of use, the user would lose their account and the app would disappear from their phone.
“We will delay the date when people will be asked to review and accept the terms. No one’s account will be suspended or deleted until February 8. We will also do more to clarify misinformation about how the company said in the statement,“ Privacy and Security work on WhatsApp. ”
Facebook and its popular messaging subsidiary have tried several times to deny that with the new rules they would have access to messages or call content, as well as contact lists or groups or a shared geographic location.
In a statement on Friday, WhatsApp said that “this update does not expand” its ability to “share data with Facebook” and promised to explain the new usage policy without rushing “before work options become available on May 15th.” .
Several outlets reported that the new privacy terms will include more open language, which has prompted speculation that Facebook will access WhatsApp data. While the company insisted that everything responds to a greater role and functions of communicating with companies and making purchases.
“Although people are not using WhatsApp to buy from companies today, we believe that more people will choose to do so in the future and it is important that the world is aware of these services,” the statement said.
The messaging app, which has about 2,000 million users, fears a massive exodus to Telegram and Signal, who have positioned themselves as the most jealous when it comes to preventing the collection and use of their users’ metadata, despite the fact that WhatsApp also encrypts conversations.
Many groups used confusion around WhatsApp to spread misinformation about private data use by Facebook, which was also heavily criticized in the United States by groups of all kinds, first, for not controlling the language of white supremacist groups, and later, to block access.