WhatsApp is hitting the brakes on a privacy policy update that’s prompted users to flee the Facebook-owned platform for rival messaging apps.
WhatsApp’s original plan required people to agree to the new privacy policy on Feb. 8. If they didn’t, the app implied it would shut down their accounts. To make things more confusing, the update also said WhatsApp partnered with Facebook on new "integrations," without specifically saying how the data sharing works.
But on Friday, WhatsApp said it was postponing the plan amid an apparent user exodus. “We’re now moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms. No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8. We're also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security works on WhatsApp,” the service said in a blog post.
The heart of the problem is trust (or the lack of it). WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, which has a notorious record on digital privacy. The social network has repeatedly tried to clarify that the updated WhatsApp policy will not result in real changes for users. But many refuse to give Facebook the benefit of the doubt.
This became apparent last week when Telsa CEO Elon Musk urged his followers on Twitter to use competing messaging app Signal. Since then, Signal has seen a massive influx of new users, numbering in the tens of millions.
On Friday, WhatsApp reiterated that it will continue to use end-to-end encryption, meaning no one—not even Facebook—will be able to read your messages. “We also can’t see your shared location and we don’t share your contacts with Facebook,” the app added.
The company went on to say the policy update itself deals primarily with businesses using WhatsApp to send and store messages with consumers. “This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook,” it added.
Nevertheless, the updated privacy policy is still a reminder that WhatsApp does share some user data with Facebook. At the same time, the document itself uses broad, but abstract language concerning the data sharing, making it unclear what Facebook can collect from your WhatsApp usage and why.
We’ll have to wait and see if WhatsApp can clear up the confusion and win back users. In the meantime, the company is indicating it won’t begin asking users to opt into the privacy policy until May 15. “We’re going to do more over the coming weeks to make sure everyone knows how WhatsApp secures your messages,” added Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp.