WhatsApp delays privacy policy update amid concern

WhatsApp delayed the introduction of a new privacy policy earlier this month after confusion and user backlash forced it to explain what data it collects and how it shares it with parent company, Facebook.

“We have heard from so many people how much confusion there is around our recent update,” the company wrote in a blog post. “There has been a lot of misinformation causing concern and we want to help everyone understand our principles and the facts.”

WhatsApp asked users earlier this month to agree to the new policy by February 8. However, it pushed that deadline to May 15 to give it time to further explain the changes.

WhatsApp has end-to-end encryption, meaning only the sender and recipient of a message can read it. Additionally, those messages are not stored on Facebook servers.

However, WhatsApp is also pushing aggressively into messaging for businesses.

The updated privacy policy was intended to alert users that some businesses would soon be using Facebook-owned servers to store messages with consumers.

Facebook said that it would not use those messages for any advertising purposes but the language in the updated terms of service concerned many users who fear that Facebook would have access to their private messages.

WhatsApp attempted to shoot down the concerns and said messages between friends and family would retain their end-to-end encryption.

“While not everyone shops with a business on WhatsApp today, we think that more people will choose to do so in the future and it is important [that] people are aware of these services,” the company said. “This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook.”

The concerns highlight Facebook’s challenge in convincing users that the company takes their privacy seriously. Much of the language in the updated terms of service is similar to rules unveiled in 2016. Since then, Facebook has dealt with several privacy issues and reached a $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has made private messaging a top priority moving forward, but that has also meant bringing WhatsApp further under Facebook’s control – both operationally and from a brand and marketing perspective.

The concern around WhatsApp’s new policies has fuelled an increase in user growth for rival apps such as Signal and Telegram.

WhatsApp pushed the deadline to May 15 to give it time to further explain the changes