WhatsApp has announced that it will postpone the change in its terms of use for three months. Many users had expressed fears that the mobile messaging service would share confidential data with its parent company, Facebook. “We are now delaying the date on which users will have to read and accept the conditions”: this was announced on January 15, the mobile messaging service WhatsApp. The changes, which were supposed to come into effect on February 8, are now scheduled for May 15.
No user will therefore have their account suspended or deleted on February 8. Whatsapp also claims that recent updates do not “extend” the ability to share data with Facebook, adding that users’ contacts will not be shared with the famous social network.
WhatsApp conversations will continue to be end-to-end encrypted and neither Facebook nor WhatsApp will be able to see these private messages, the company says.
“We know that there has been confusion and misinformation about this update, and we want to help everyone understand our principles and the facts,” defended the company, which ensures that the update à jour was primarily intended to help companies communicate better with their customers via the platform.
On January 7, the popular WhatsApp messaging app came under fire for asking its nearly two billion users to agree to new terms of service, allowing it to share more data with its parent company, Facebook. This is indeed seeking to monetize its platform by allowing advertisers to contact their customers via WhatsApp – or even sell their products directly there – as is already the case in India, for example.
