Image Credits: Business Insider India
WhatsApp claims users would not sacrifice any features if they do not approve the updated privacy policy by May 15th, according to a new update on its website. “As a result of this upgrade, no one’s account will be removed or their WhatsApp feature will be lost on May 15th,” the FAQ now reads.
Relaxing To Accept Its New Privacy Policy Unti May, Says WhatsApp
That’s different from what the page said when it first went live in February, when it threatened that if users didn’t approve the new terms by the May deadline, they’d lose access to the site. The page said at the time, “We’ve extended the effective date to May 15th.”
“If you haven’t agreed by then, your WhatsApp account will not be deleted. However, you won’t be able to use WhatsApp to its full potential before you agree. You’ll be able to accept calls and updates for a limited period of time, but you won’t be able to read or write messages from the software [emphasis added].”
Although WhatsApp has extended the deadline for accepting the new strategy, it is still in effect, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans. It will remain in place for potential users and others who have already agreed to the policy as of May 15th. The contrast is that those who refuse to follow the policy now will not lose their full functionality right away. Instead, they’ll see a message reminding them to approve the new policy.
That will change in a few weeks, as this reminder will become a “persistent reminder,” as WhatsApp refers to it. The app’s features will be severely restricted at this stage.
Users will still be able to respond to incoming calls and messages by clicking on alerts, but they will no longer be able to enter the regular chat list from inside the programme. In a few more weeks, users will no longer have access to this “restricted feature.” Inactive accounts are usually deleted after 120 days, according to WhatsApp.
In a quote, a WhatsApp representative said, “We’ve spent the last few months sharing more information about our upgrade to users around the world.”
“In that time, the vast majority of those who downloaded the update have embraced it, and WhatsApp has continued to rise. Many that have not yet had the opportunity to do so will not have their accounts deleted or losing functionality on May 15. In the coming weeks, we’ll continue to send updates to those users through WhatsApp.”
WhatsApp’s revised privacy policy has sparked outrage, with concerns that it weakens the messaging service’s security or requires it to exchange some of its users’ personal information with parent company Facebook. The scheme, however, has little effect on the fact that personal messages sent by users are end-to-end encrypted, which means that only the recipients can read them.
Instead, it’s about WhatsApp messages sent to companies. These could be saved on Facebook’s servers, and their information could be used for advertisement purposes. WhatsApp has been sharing some customer details with Facebook, such as phone numbers, since 2016.
This knowledge hasn’t helped to defuse the debate, with competing chat apps Telegram and Signal announcing significant increases in new customers. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, got in on the act, tweeting “Use Signal” to his millions of fans at the start of January.
In reaction to the backlash, WhatsApp announced that it would postpone the implementation of its revised privacy policies from February to May.
