Two years ago Mark Zuckerberg caught us by surprise when he announced the deal he sealed with WhatsApp team, buying and having the entire team to join them at Facebook. His vision was to make the world more open and connected, which was not far apart from the vision he had when he introduced the world to Facebook almost a decade ago. The merger of WhatsApp and Facebook was meant to expand and build services that would help people share any type of content with any group of people they wanted, and WhatsApp served as an enhancing tool to archive this stated goal. But WhatsApp was to continue operating independently within Facebook. The product road-map would remain unchanged. Facebook was going to work hard to help WhatsApp grow and connect the whole world and be affordable for everyone.
I knew that there was so much more to this union. WhatsApp announced that it changed its privacy policy and plans to share its user’s information like phone numbers with Facebook, which I assume the two services will connect the two accounts and share user’s data. This will give Facebook more data about users, allowing the social network to suggest phone contacts as friends. Though the contents of WhatsApp messages such as words and images will continue being protected by their end-to-end encryption, meaning that the app cannot read them, it does have data including phone numbers and information about users’ phones and operating systems, and this for me sparks as huge privacy concern.
The new WhatsApp privacy policy is detailed below:-
- WhatsApp can now share data including your phone number with Facebook, letting it better target adverts and improve friend suggestions
- Facebook and WhatsApp will be able to link accounts using technology that tells them when a phone has installed both
- It will also gain data such as device type and software information, although it says messages will continue to be encrypted
- The privacy policy also allows business accounts for the first time. WhatsApp plans to make the app a home for customer service, allowing companies to contact users
- The new policy also reflects recent changes to WhatsApp such as voice calls and its web version
- Users can opt out of sharing data with Facebook, but will have to agree to the privacy policy within 30 days
Facebook said it would not reveal phone numbers by displaying them on Facebook profiles, but would use the data to improve its friend suggestion algorithm. Agreeing to the policy means users who have your phone number saved in their phone may begin to start seeing your profile pop up in friend suggestions, since Facebook will now be able to link your phone number with your account. Users will, however, be able to opt out of sharing their details with Facebook.
My other concern is, this is an opportunity for advertising companies to get hold of user’s personal details, meaning if you were ever irritated from receiving calls from companies trying to sell you their products, start containing your anger now because it’s about to get down.
WhatsApp has already rolled out this project, and I am not going to agree to this policy and would advise you not to agree also until Facebook and WhatsApp give us an assurance that we are safe.
If you have a WhatsApp account and don’t want to share your account information with Facebook follow the below steps
Option 1
Before you tap Agree to accept the updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, You will see a control at the bottom of the screen. If you do not want your account information shared with Facebook, you can uncheck the box or toggle the control.
Option 2
- If you have already agreed to the updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, you have 30 days to change your choice by going to:
- Settings > Account > Share my account info in the app.
- If you do not want your account information shared with Facebook, you can uncheck the box or toggle the control.
- The Facebook family of companies will still receive and use this information for other purposes, such as improving infrastructure and delivery systems.
Article By Pamela Kunene
