“We won’t post or share your WhatsApp number with others, including on Facebook, and we still won’t sell, share, or give your phone number to advertisers”. WhatsApp now share some data with its parent, including the telephone numbers of users, and will allow companies to send them messages.
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Users will not be able to opt out of their data being shared with Facebook, although The Guardian reports that users of WhatsApp will be able to opt out of their information being used for ad targeting on the Facebook platform for the next 30 days.
“And by connecting your phone number with Facebook’s systems, Facebook can offer better friend suggestions and show you more relevant ads if you have an account with them”, the blog post said. This is a major shift in the privacy policy of the company, however it is also important to point out that users have the option of opting out. This is the reason why today we will try to give you some information about how you can stop WhatsApp from handing Facebook this new data.
One of them involves delaying agreeing to the new WhatsApp terms of service.
Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014 for £16.5bn.
You can go to Settings Account and untick the box next to “Share my account info”.
In response, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said: “The changes WhatsApp and Facebook are making will affect a lot of people”.
One analyst said some users might see the change of policy as a “betrayal” because the company had previously pledged to remain independent of Facebook.
Under the switch, WhatsApp users’ activity, such as when they were last seen using the app, would also be passed onto Zuckerberg. As Facebook lays out its privacy plan and integrates an “opt out” feature for data sharing, it’s up in the air whether United State’s top privacy regulator will jump on an investigation.
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WhatsApp said it would continue to bar the traditional ads from the service.
