Finally, a response after a terrible week of some heavy backlash since the notification came that a new WhatsApp privacy policy update was on its way.
Read more: Latest 2021 WhatsApp privacy policy forces users to find alternative apps.
Many people raised concerns after they tapped “Agree” to the notification they received on their phones through the application. It looks like the app’s users might have misunderstood the entire situation with many admitting that they didn’t even read through the terms of the new policy.
“We recently updated our Privacy Policy and we have received many thoughtful questions. With some of the rumours going around, we want to answer some of the common questions we have received”, the popular messaging app said.
The app emphasizes that keeping user data private and secure is still its major priority and nothing has changed contrary to what has been circulating on the internet that people’s data is going to be at risk.
“We want to be clear that the policy update does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way. Instead, this update includes changes related to messaging a business on WhatsApp, which is optional, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data.”
The biggest question on people’s minds right now is, “Will our chats and calls be safe with these new Terms of Service?”
Here is how the messaging app explained concerns regarding user data.
We can’t see your private messages or hear your calls and neither can Facebook: The app can’t see any of your messages between you and other people you communicate with. This is because the message is still protected by end-to-end encryption.
We don’t keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling: WhatsApp believes by doing this, it would pose both a privacy and security risk.
We can’t see your shared location and neither can Facebook: Your location is protected by end-to-end encryption which means no one can see your location except the ones you share it with.
We don’t share your contacts with Facebook: With permission, the app can only access phone numbers from your address book and won’t share them.
Groups will remain private.
You can set your messages to disappear: For more privacy, you can set your messages to disappear from chats.
You can download your data: You can download and see what information we have on the account from within the app.
What the WhatsApp privacy policy update means:
It’s meant to enable secure communication between businesses on WhatsApp and Facebook. Over 175 million WhatsApp business accounts are running currently. Facebook has since found a way to manage communication seamlessly from Facebook to WhatsApp for these business accounts.
This reduces the time people spend when communicating with businesses. For example, if you find a business on Facebook and want to make an order, you’ll easily be redirected to the WhatsApp business account directly to inquire for more information.
With the WhatsApp privacy policy update, the Facebook-owned app is simply introducing a set of tools to read, store and manage messages received from you to business accounts. These will be used to improve your experience by sending targeted advertisements.
At the end of the day, what we should all know is that nothing changes when it comes to chats between you and friends and family. They’re still safe and very much private.
READ: We reveal why your old Samsung phone is still very useful.