Users hang up as update fuels fury FACEBOOK DEFENDS CHANGE TO WHATSAPP POLICY BUT ADVOCACY GROUPS SCEPTICAL
USERS of the popular messaging app WhatsApp were asked last Thursday (7) to accept new terms that will allow it to share more information with its parent company Facebook and roll out advertising and e-commerce.
The update sparked criticism among its some two billion users as they must agree or see their access to the service – which also allows encrypted voice and video calls – cut off from February 8.
Facebook aims to monetise WhatsApp by allowing businesses to contact their clients via the platform, even sell them products directly using the service as they already do in India.
“Privacy policy and terms updates are common in the industry and we’re providing users with ample notice to review the changes, which go into effect on February 8,” a Facebook spokesperson said.
“All users need to accept the new terms of service if they want to continue using WhatsApp,” they added.
The firm said the updated terms will allow additional sharing of information between WhatsApp with Facebook and its other applications such as Instagram and Messenger, such as contacts and profile data, but not the content of messages which remain encrypted.
In the EU and Britain, the new terms only allow for the development of functionalities for professional users of WhatsApp Business, a company spokesman said. User advocates warned the update was not legal. “If the only way to refuse (the modification) is to stop using WhatsApp, the consent is forced as the use of personal data is illegal,” said Arthur Messaud, a lawyer for La Quadrature du net, an association that defends internet users.
Meanwhile, Signal and Telegram messaging apps are seeing a sudden increase in demand after WhatsApp updated its terms of service.
Signal’s popularity shot up further last Thursday (7) after it was endorsed by Elon Musk, who has one of the most-followed accounts on Twitter, and by the micro-blogging site’s top boss Jack Dorsey.
More than 100,000 users installed Signal from the app stores of Apple and Google in the last two days, while Telegram picked up nearly 2.2 million downloads, according to data analytics firm Sensor Tower.
Facebook has come under increasing pressure from regulators as it tries to integrate its services.
The EU fined US social media giant €110 million (now £98m) for providing incorrect and misleading information about its 2014 takeover of WhatsApp, concerning the ability to link accounts between the two services.
Federal and state regulators in the US have accused Facebook of using its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram to squelch competition, and filed antitrust lawsuits last month that aim to force the company to divest them.
New installs of WhatsApp fell 11 per cent in the first seven days of 2021 compared with the prior week, but that still amounted to an estimated 10.5 million downloads globally, Sensor Tower said. (Agencies)