WhatsApp Announced Important Change That Has Displeased Its Users | The State
WhatsApp has announced changes to its Conditions and Privacy policy, which involve the sharing of data with Facebook and that users must accept in order to continue using the messaging service from February 8.
Through a pop-up message in the application, WhatsApp is informing users of its service that as of February 8, the new features introduced in its Terms and Privacy policy will come into force, as the specialized account WABetainfo already announced earlier. from December.
These changes refer to the data that WhatsApp collects from users and their treatment. Also to the way that businesses can use Facebook to host their services and manage their conversations on WhatsApp.
WhatsApp explains that it collects information from users “to operate, provide, improve, understand, personalize, support and promote” its services. This information corresponds, for example, with the telephone number to create the account and the basic information of the profile; with the location of the device, if the user wants to share it with their contacts; messages, temporarily and encrypted if they have not been delivered or are part of a forwarding of multimedia files; the contact book and shared statuses; and payment details.
Automatically, WhatsApp also collects information about user activity in the application (settings, interaction, frequency), service diagnostics, or device and connection (model, operating system, battery charge level, time zone , IP adress). It also installs ‘cookies’ “to operate and provide services, as well as provide Internet-based services, improve experiences, understand how services are used and personalize them.”
And information from third parties, from other users with whom the user contacts or who have the user’s phone number on their agenda, from reports of alleged infractions, from the companies with which they interact in the app or from service providers.
As a Facebook company (like Facebook, Instagram or Oculus), WhatsApp shares this data it collects with other companies in the group, just as these companies share user data with WhatsApp.
“Both parties can use the information we receive to operate, provide, improve, understand, personalize, support and promote our Services and their offerings, including the products of Facebook companies,” explains WhatsApp in its Privacy Policy.
The company, as explained in the notification, requires acceptance of the new policies in order to continue using the messaging service, and refers to its help center in the event that users do not agree and want to cancel their account .
The integration of the data between WhatsApp and Facebook began in 2016, to improve the user experience with Facebook products and advertising, but then it gave the possibility to unlink the exchange of data for advertising purposes in the settings.
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