Whats App to share your phone number
Critics say move is “strong-arm” tactic by parent Facebook
SAN FRANCISCO — Global messaging service Whats App says it will start sharing the phone numbers of its users with Facebook, its parent company. That means Whats App users could soon start seeing more targeted ads and Facebook friend suggestions on Facebook based on Whats App information — although not on the messaging service itself.
The move is a subtle but significant shift for Whats-App, used by more than 1 billion people around the world. When it was acquired by Facebook for an eye-popping $21.8 billion two years ago, executives promised privacy would be safeguarded.
“This is a strong-arm tactic on the part of Facebook,” said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy in Washington, D.C. “They continue on a campaign to run roughshod on our privacy rights.”
Whats App is giving users a limited time to opt out of sharing their information with Facebook, although they must take the extra step of unchecking a box to do so. It also says Facebook won’t post phone numbers online or give them out to anyone.
But the giant social net- work has been looking for ways to make money from Whats App since it bought the service two years ago.
At the same time, Facebook has pledged not to interfere with a longstanding promise by Whats App’s co-founders to respect users’ privacy and keep ads off its messaging platform.
Whats App on Thursday offered a glimpse of its plans for turning on the money spigot, releasing new documents that de- scribe the company’s privacy policy and the terms of service that users must agree to follow.
The documents are the first revision of those policies since 2012, before Facebook acquired Whats-App.
One change follows through on previous hints by Whats App executives, who have said they’re exploring ways for businesses to communicate with customers on Whats App. That could include using Whats-App to provide receipts, confirm a reservation or update the status of a delivery.
Companies could also send marketing offers or messages about sales to individual customers, according to the new documents, which note that users will be able to control or block such messages. Whats App says it will continue to bar traditional display ads from its service.
“We do not want you to have a spammy experience,” the company tells users in a summary of the new policies.