“If you’re not paying for it, you become the product”.
It is a common phrase used to describe how large and profitable tech companies make money through “free services”. Whatsapp’s latest privacy policy update lends credence to this euphemism.
When I — like the rest of the two billion users — received a WhatsApp notification about the recent policy terms update, I was curious to know what it was.
After reading the terms, it became clear to me that the app is simply trying to ask for permission to share my data with its parent company Facebook, effective Feb 8, 2021.
While end-to-end private chats continue to remain encrypted, here are the kinds of data WhatsApp will share with Facebook and Instagram: phone numbers, status updates, group details, profile pictures, about info, payments, transactions, time zone and IP address.
This essentially means Whatsapp has taken a 360-degree in terms of its privacy policy.
Also Read: What you need to know about data privacy in China
The company’s 2019 privacy policy terms says: “Respect for your privacy is coded into our DNA. Since we started WhatsApp, we’ve aspired to build our Services with a set of strong privacy principles in mind.”
This line has since been completely scraped off in the 2021 policy.
If you’re one among those who feel creeped out in the past wondering why you have been receiving ads of sports shoes after just having a private conversation with a friend, prepare to get even more surprised.
The new privacy means Whatsapp will now be able to monitor the kinds of links of products/other things that you send your friends and families and use them to send it to other ads companies/brands.
In other words, Facebook now has total access to your data.
That’s not all the user data will be available not just to the businesses you are transacting with, but will also be available to other third parties that are working with these businesses.
Still hard to digest? Then look at the Cambridge Analytica Scandal of 2019, which clearly showed how Facebook in the past let third-party app developers access our personal data, who in turn sold it to companies which used it for different exploitative and illegal purposes.
What Whatsapp had to say
While these can be regarded as just opinions from a user, it will be unfair to bash Whatsapp without hearing the company out.
Will Cathcart, Head of Whatsapp, said, “We’ve updated our policy to be transparent and to better describe optional people-to-business features. We wrote about it in October — this includes commerce on WhatsApp and the ability for people to message a business.”
He added that businesses want tools to respond quickly to the messages sent to them and features such as Shops and Pay can help people buy things they want from businesses on WhatsApp much more easily.
While this justification sounds valid, it still cannot be denied that Facebook is now too big and wields immense power over our choices and compulsive needs. Not to forget the company’s long list of user data-related sins in the past year.
Big names, including Elon Musk, have also come out in the open to urge people to find alternative messaging channels, such as Signal and Telegram.
While being okay with the new policy is really a choice that each one has, it is important to understand fully what the terms are before you click on the dangerous green “I agree” button.
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Image Credit: Unsplash
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