WhatsApp to share the user’s data with Facebook, here is how you can pull out (partially)

From today on wards, WhatsApp will be sharing the user’s data (including the phone number) with its parent company Facebook.

You might be wondering over the provisions of privacy, you were provided with when you installed the application, maybe a couple of years ago. Voila, they are no-more. In a blog post released today, WhatsApp has announced that it has changed its terms, conditions and the privacy policy.

Coordinating with Facebook, WhatsApp now will be able to track personal basic metrics. The data collected will be used for relevant advertisement and for countering spam. Facebook will be offering better friend suggestions. WhatsApp, however, explicitly mentioned that all of the texts would stay private, all thanks to the end-to-end encryption. WhatsApp itself even will not be able to read the messages.

The new terms and conditions now read,

“As part of the Facebook family of companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, this family of companies. We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings.”

Another important announcement which WhatsApp made is that the new users will now have to brace for the advertisements. There won’t be any sneaky ‘Why we don’t sell ads’, very much because from this moment on wards WhatsApp, with the assistance of Facebook, will be showing them to you.

Can you opt out of this?! Well, it doesn’t seem like anyone would be able to do that cent percent, but WhatsApp surely gives you the freedom to opt out of this partially. The users can opt-out of sharing personal data with Facebook specifically for the ad targeting and the product-related issues.

To do that, before you agree to the WhatsApp’s updated terms and conditions. Tap ‘Read’, and scroll down. At the bottom of the page you will see an option on if you want your information shared with Facebook to improve your Facebook ads and products experiences, which you can toggle as per your liking.

If you already have agreed to the WhatsApp’s updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, you still will be provided with a 30-day window to toggle that option. To access that, in the WhatsApp application head to Settings > Account > Share my account info and you will see the ‘Share my Account info’ option.

The future remains uncertain.

Image — Mirror