WhatsApp Privacy Policy - To Accept or Not to Accept is THE Question

 Well If This Question Has Been Going On In Your Mind Ever Since Facebook Owned WhatsApp Brought The New Privacy Policy Changes, You Are In The Right Place. At The End Of This Article, We Hope You Will Have The Answer To Your Question! 

Without Wasting Any More Time, Let’s Quickly Look Into What The New Changes Exactly Are And The Nitty Gritty Around It! 

THE TWO MAJOR PRIVACY UPDATE AND A MINOR DETAIL

1. Sharing Of Data With Other Facebook-owned Companies And Third Party
   
   WhatsApp Has Clearly Stated That It Can Share The Data They Collect With The Other Facebook Owned Companies As Well As The Third Party Service Providers. This Has Been The Biggest Bone Of Contention Between The Corporate Giant And The Indian People Or Government At Large Along With Some Other Countries As Well.
   WhatsApp Has Justified This Move By Saying That They Do So To Help Them Operate, Provide, Improve, Understand, Customize, Support, And Market Their Services.
   
   
2. Sharing Of The Data That You Shared With A Business Profile
   
   Another Big Change Is That The Data You Share With Any Business Profile On WhatsApp, It Can Be Again Shared With Facebook-owned Companies And Third Party Service Providers. The Data Collected From Business Profiles Isn’t Limited To Your Phone And Basic Information Like Your Name And Gender But Can Also Include Your Payment And Transaction Information Like Payment Modes, Shipping Details (your Address) And Also The Transaction Amount.
   
   WhatsApp Mentions That It Can Use This Data As Well As Receive Data Related To You From Other Facebook-owned Companies As Well To Give More Marketing Tools To The Business Owners For Specific Ad-targeting.
   
   
3. Third Party Ad Banners- The Minor But Not So Minor Detail
   
   Well One Thing, WhatsApp Hasn’t Done To Earn The Extra Penny Is Providing The Businesses With Ad Banners. Ad Banners Are Nothing But Different Ads You See While Using The Free Applications On The Store. Many Use These Ad Banners As An Additional Or Even Major Source Of Revenue.
   In The New Policy, WhatsApp Mentions, “We Still Do Not Allow Third-party Banner Ads On Our Services. We Have No Intention To Introduce Them, But If We Ever Do, We Will Update This Privacy Policy.” Word To Be Noted In The Sentence Is “BUT IF”, Leaving The Probability Of It Happening More Than Ever. Now Definitely They Will Inform You When They Add Them But Until Now WhatsApp Also Used To Say “Your Privacy Is In Our DNA”. This Statement Has Now Come To Hit The Users More Than Ever So We Believe That In The Near Future, We Should Be Ready To Face These Ad Banners On WhatsApp As Well.

Haven’t We Deleted Tons Of Apps Just Because Of These Ads, What Was WhatsApp Researching All This Time! 

What Information Does WhatsApp Collect From You? 

This Is The Next Question You Might Need An Answer To, Well The List Is Long But Let Us Try To Explain By Consolidating The Basic Information WhatsApp Will Collect.

1. Automatically Collected Date: 
   
   This Is The Data They Collect For Which You Accept Right While Installing The App And Agreeing To The Privacy Policy, Data Like When Did You Register On The App, When You Use It, How You Use It Along With What Services You Use Like Messaging, Calling, Status, Groups (including Group Name, Group Picture, Group Description), Payments Or Business Features; Profile Photo, "about" Information; Whether You Are Online, When You Last Used Their Services (your "last Seen"); And When You Last Updated Your "about" Information.
   
   Other Data That They Automatically Collect Are Your Hardware Model, Operating System Information, Battery Level, Signal Strength, App Version, Browser Information, Mobile Network, Connection Information (including Phone Number, Mobile Operator Or ISP), Language And Time Zone, IP Address, Device Operations Information, And Identifiers (including Identifiers Unique To Facebook Company Products Associated With The Same Device Or Account) Along With Cookies And Location Information Which You Give Permission To Them When You Share Your Location With Your Friends.
   
   All This Automatic Data Immediately Gives Them The Permission To Track All Your Activities On WhatsApp.
   
   
2. Information The User Provides:
   
   WhatsApp Collects The Information You Provide, Like Your Phone Number And Name Which Is The Basic Information You Need To Give To Use The Application. Other Information In This Section Include Your Contact Sharing, Media Sharing, Transactions And Payments Data, Etc. 
   
   
3. Information That Other Users Provide About You:
   
   Yes, You Heard It Right! Imagine That One Of Your Contacts Has Not Just Stored Your WhatsApp Phone Number (yes, We All Use Different Numbers For Calling And Using WhatsApp On!) But Also Your Other Phone Numbers Along With Your Email ID, Then WhatsApp Immediately Gets Access To This Information Once The Other Person Accepts To Share Their Contact (which To Their Defence Is Not Something You Can Decline Because Then You Just Can’t Use WhatsApp).
   
   
4. Information That They Collect From Third Party Service Providers:
   
   In Their Own Words, “We Work With Third-party Service Providers And Other Facebook Companies To Help Us Operate, Provide, Improve, Understand, Customize, Support, And Market Our Services. For Example, We Work With Them To Distribute Our Apps; Provide Our Technical And Physical Infrastructure, Delivery, And Other Systems; Provide Engineering Support, Cybersecurity Support, And Operational Support; Supply Location, Map, And Places Information; Process Payments; Help Us Understand How People Use Our Services; Market Our Services; Help You Connect With Businesses Using Our Services; Conduct Surveys And Research For Us; Ensure Safety, Security And Integrity; And Help With Customer Service.”

WHAT THIS MEANS TO THE USERS?

Well, We Can Easily Say That Yes, All These Privacy Policies Are Nothing But The Harsh Reality Of Today’s Times. Nothing That Is Offered To You Is For Free, You Pay The Price, Monetarily Or By Losing Your Privacy.

Following Are Some Important Points To Ponder Before Making The Decision:

1. How Important Is WhatsApp?
   
   This Is Probably The Most Important Question But With A Very Common Answer Being That The Application Is Very Much Ingrained Into Our Society And The Way We Use Social Media. From Using It Professionally To Using It Personally, The App Has Become The Most Important App For Every User.
   This Is Evidently Very Clear To WhatsApp And Other Facebook-owned Companies Which Is Why They Are Still Adamant On Keeping The New Privacy Policy Unchanged Even After A Lot Of Backlash! 
   
   
2. End To End Encryption
   
   No Doubt Here, That WhatsApp Still Continues To Offer End To End Encryption Which Means Only You And The Recipient Can Read The Message. Unless It’s A Media File Which Gets Stored In Its Original Form Due To The Possibility Of It Being Forwarded Again.
   This Feature Can Change But WhatsApp Has Clearly Stated That If The Conversation Changes To Non-encrypted Messages, It Won’t Happen With The User Knowing About It.
   
   
3. Work Around The System
   
   Well, If You Look At The New Regulations, It Is Quite Evident That Until And Unless You Stick To Using WhatsApp Just For Messaging And Calling Your Friends And Family And Not Contact The Business IDs, Then Mostly These Rules Will Have Little Effect On Your Experience.
   
   All The Data That Has Already Been Shared By You Will Obviously Be Shared Once You Accept The Privacy Policy But Who Are We Kidding! We Already Evidently See The Advertisements Of The Random Products We Talk About With Our Friends On Our Other Social Media Pages, So It Isn’t Like The Data Isn’t Getting Shared. It Is Just That Ever Since The Cambridge Analytica Scandal, Facebook And Its Owned Companies Have Wanted To Cover All Their Bases.
   
   
4. What Happens If You Don’t Accept The Privacy Policy?
   
   Until Now, WhatsApp Was Adamant That The Accounts That Don’t Accept The New Privacy Policies Will Result In Those Accounts Being Deleted. But Since The Case Is In The Supreme Court Of India, WhatsApp Has Announced That The New Privacy Policy Has Come Into Effect Since 15th Of May And The Users That Haven't Accepted Them Will Result In Their Services Being Affected, Slowly But Gradually.
   The Users That Don’t Accept The Privacy Policy Will Result In Inability To Send Or Receive Messages, Using The Calling Services, Receive Notifications, Etc. Though It Won’t Be Affected Immediately But Eventually It Will.
   
   
5. Deal With The Situation 
   
   This Is The Only Option That Remains With You If You Decide Against Accepting The New Privacy Policy. You Can Easily Just Bid Goodbye To The App And Ask Your Loved Ones As Well And Switch To The Other Competitors (please Check How The Competitors Work As Well Before Switching).
   There Definitely Are Many Options Out There In The Market That Offer The Solution. Apps Like Signal And Telegram Have Gained Millions Of Installations Of Their App Ever Since These Privacy Policy Changes Were Announced.

Well, We Will Know If The User Could Fight For Their Privacy Or Not In The Future But Right Now WhatsApp Is Definitely Fighting For What They Deem Is Right. As Per The Latest News, WhatsApp Has Officially Sued The Indian Government Over The New Data Protection Law. In Their Petition, WhatsApp Has Argued The New Data Protection Law Is Archaic And Doesn't Protect The Privacy Of Their Citizens. Well It Does Seem Like An Ironic Statement Since Privacy Is Something That's Hard To Get By In These Days Especially From Any Facebook-owned Companies. What The Court Decides, We Will Know In The Future? Will The App Get Banned Like Pubg And TikTok Or Will It Survive To See Their Own Privacy Policy Being Un-willingly Agreed By The People Of This Country? Only Time Will Tell!

Will You Be Agreeing To The WhatsApp Privacy Policy Or Decline It And Chose A Competitor App? Please Let Us Know In The Comment Section Below.