On Thursday, WhatsApp mentioned in a statement that it will soon start reminding people to accept their new controversial policy update in order to continue using the instant messaging service. The same old ‘take it or leave it’ approach without any amendments.
I’m sure everyone remembers WhatsApp and its parent company, Facebook Inc.’s data sharing and integration update wherein its new policy changes will apply. The instant messaging service gave a deadline to Indian users to accept the new terms of service in order to continue using the service. This along with the data sharing violation sparked controversy among users and privacy advocates on Twitter and before you know it, criticisms and backlash against WhatsApp and Facebook had begun.
Anyhow, on multiple occasions, WhatsApp tried to explain itself to the users for this update, claiming that WhatsApp does not share any user information with parent company Facebook Inc. The company even put a story in its official name with banners explaining about its new update on terms of service and privacy policy. However, the company firmly says that there is no effect on the privacy of chats between your friends and your family and that the new policy update shall go live on May 15th.
If the users fail to accept the company’s new terms of services, he/she would be permanently barred from using the service. There is no need to say that in a controversy, spreading of false statements and misinformation is a common practice and WhatsApp is completely lost in those allegations.
Furthermore, the instant messaging company has time and again reiterated on how it is offering its instant messaging service for free and that it shall continue to remain free. WhatsApp says that it charges money only from people who wish to do business using WhatsApp through the WhatsApp Business application. This, the company says is how they make money.
WhatsApp has made clear that it is not sharing any information with Facebook, now or even after the update. The sent messages will only be received through end-to-end encryption.
Not very long ago, the government of India expressed their opinion on the issue saying that WhatsApp cannot impose such an update on users in its biggest market. The government also expressed their concern on WhatsApp’s differential treatment, as in it has lenient policy rules for Europe than it has on India. India is basically forced to comply with WhatsApp’s new update and this is not a fair deal.
WhatsApp says that it has pushed back the date of its deadline to accept the new terms of service to May 15th, 2021 and during this time, it is continuously explaining to the people that there is no data sharing involved in the update and complying with the statements given by the government of India.
WhatsApp says that it is eager to serve its biggest market in the most reliable way and provide them with a secure platform to communicate.
