WhatsApp Delays Data Sharing Change after Backlash

WhatsApp postponed the data-sharing change on Friday, as users concerned about privacy fled the Facebook-owned messaging service and flocked to Telegram and Signal rivals.

The smartphone app, a worldwide hit, canceled its February 8 deadline for accepting an update to its terms for sharing data with Facebook, saying it would take the break to clear up misinformation about privacy and security, reports NDTV.

"We've heard from so many people how much confusion there is around our recent update," WhatsApp said in a blog post.

"This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook."

It said it would instead "go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15."

The update concerns how merchants using WhatsApp to chat with customers can share data with Facebook, which could use the information for targeted ads, according to the social network.

"We can't see your private messages or hear your calls, and neither can Facebook," WhatsApp said in an earlier blog post.

"We don't keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling. We can't see your shared location and neither can Facebook."

Location data along with message contents is encrypted end-to-end, according to WhatsApp.

"We're giving businesses the option to use secure hosting services from Facebook to manage WhatsApp chats with their customers, answer questions, and send helpful information like purchase receipts," WhatsApp said in a post.

"Whether you communicate with a business by phone, email, or WhatsApp, it can see what you're saying and may use that information for its own marketing purposes, which may include advertising on Facebook."

Technology experts note that WhatsApp's new requirement for its users makes a policy that has been widely used since 2016 legally binding.

Facebook aims to monetize WhatsApp by enabling businesses to contact clients via the platform, making it natural for the Internet giant to centralize some of the data on its servers.

Countries concerned

The Turkish Competition Authority said it is opening an investigation and requiring WhatsApp to suspend the data sharing obligation on its users.

Several Turkish state organizations – including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's media office – have switched to Turkcell Telecom's new BiP messaging service in response.

Terms of service tweak also put WhatsApp in crosshairs in Italy and India, where a petition has been filed in a court in Delhi.

WhatsApp's notice to users lacked clarity and its impact on privacy needs to be carefully assessed, the Italian data protection agency GPDP said in a post on its website.

GPPD stated that it shared its concerns with the European Data Protection Board and reserved the right to intervene in the matter.

Facebook has come under increasing pressure from regulators as it tries to integrate its services.

The EU fined the US social media giant 110 million euros (then $120 million) for providing incorrect and misleading information about its 2014 takeover of WhatsApp concerning the ability to link accounts between the services.

Federal and state regulators in 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.

Privacy paramount

User privacy concerns have been mounted, with Uber careful to stress that a change in the terms of the app that will take effect on January 18 has nothing to do with data sharing.

Encrypted Messaging app Telegram has seen a surge in user ranks on WhatsApp's terms of service announcement, said its Russian-born founder Pavel Durov.

"People no longer want to exchange their privacy for free services," Durov said without directly referring to the rival app.

Encrypted messaging app Signal has also seen a huge surge in demand, helped by a tweeted recommendation by billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.

WhatsApp has sought to reassure worried users, even running full-page newspaper adverts in India, proclaiming that "respect for your privacy is coded into our DNA".