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WhatsApp to share users’ data with Facebook. Only 30 days are left!

WhatsApp to share data with Facebook

In a latest development, WhatsApp – the most popular messaging app – has announced a fundamental change in its privacy policy. With the policy change, WhatsApp will share its users’ data – especially their phone numbers with Facebook – the leading social media website in the world.

And the irony is that the users only have 30 days to stop WhatsApp from sharing the data with Facebook. WhatsApp has approximately one billion active users worldwide. On the other hand, Facebook has 1.60 billion active users worldwide.

Major reason behind WhatsApp’s move

The major reason behind WhatsApp’s motive to share data with Facebook is to curb down spam text messages. Sharing the users’ phone numbers is really an alarming situation for the so called pro-privacy advocates. Both the firms promise not to compromise on their users’ privacy and security, but as the situation stands now, WhatsApp seems to go ahead with the announcement.

Is this a violation of users’ privacy?

Two years back, in 2014, WhatsApp insisted that the messaging app does not collect or store any kind of data from the users. At that time, Facebook had just acquired WhatsApp. Jan Koum, one of WhatsApp founds, made the following statement:

“We don’t know your birthday. We don’t know your home address.” None of that data has ever been collected and stored by WhatsApp, and we really have no plans to change that”, he had maintained.

In the recent announcement, WhatsApp mentions that all the changes in privacy policy are meant to facilitate users communicate freely with businesses. “We want to explore ways for you to communicate with businesses that matter to you, too, while still giving you an experience without third-party banner ads and spam”, the statement said.

And now, in 2016, WhatsApp is all set to share some of users’ information – including their phone numbers and data analytics with Facebook. This move will surely have an adverse effect on billions of WhatsApp users.

You can still remain safe

The popular messaging app still emphasizes the point that there is no harm in sharing users’ data with Facebook. It is because of the fact that the users’ messages will remain encrypted, and the phone numbers will not be passed on to the third party advertisers.

One important fact is that the WhatsApp users can still stop the company to share their information with Facebook. In order to prevent WhatsApp from sharing your data with Facebook, you can simply uncheck the “Share my WhatsApp account information with Facebook to improve my Facebook ads and products experiences” option. Even if you have upgraded your WhatsApp, you can still manage to stay safe. And you have got 30 days for it.

The agony of users’ privacy

Well, both Facebook and WhatsApp have come under criticism from the common users and privacy advocates alike. In Brazil, the law enforcement agencies were wary of WhatsApp for not being able to access users’ encrypted messages.

On the other hand, Facebook had its share of disappointments in Europe. The company was involved in a tough legal battle against the European privacy advocates, who accused Facebook of illegally collecting users’ data without their permission.

What’s ahead?

Sensing the gravity of the situation, Marc Rotenberg, President of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy advocacy group in Washington is concerned about the legal consequences of the data sharing move by WhatsApp. He held the point of view that people used WhatsApp, rather than Facebook because it provided better user privacy options. What’s the point in having it if the privacy of the user is not protected anymore?

As the situation stand, the update in WhatsApp privacy policy is surely going to start a long debate amid the ongoing tussle between privacy proponents and law enforcement agencies. WhatsApp is bound to convince its users about the latest move and how it affects their privacy in the long run.

Tags : data sharingFacebookwhatsapp

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