9 Days to New WhatsApp Privacy Policy; Users say they will keep using the App [Poll]

On January 5, CiOL first reported that WhatsApp was rolling out an updated Terms of Service (ToS) to select users. The gradual rollout, that would come into effect on February 8, 2021 became a privacy issue soon enough. The company, later, delayed adoption of the new WhatsApp privacy policy to 15 May from 8 February.

The new WhatsApp privacy policy has been the talk of the town considering its implications on user data. Thus, the Indian Government had put its foot down and asked the company to withdraw the latest WhatsApp privacy policy update. In a letter to Will Cathcart, Global CEO, WhatsApp, MeitY wrote that the update enabled WhatsApp and other Facebook companies “to make invasive and precise inferences about users”.

Irrespective, the messaging app has made it clear that users will have to accept the new ToS to keep using the app. The last date to do so, is May 15. After that, well, WhatsApp hasn’t explained how the user experience will look like; but users might not be able to send or receive messages, and lose their access to the account.

What are users saying?

CiOL conducted a small poll on the website to understand what users would do, as the time line approaches. The poll titled - "What is your hot take on WhatsApp Privacy Policy?" asked users to choose one out of these three options:

• WhatsApp Privacy is a myth, I have shifted to alternatives

• Keep using WhatsApp, nothing is private anymore

• Unsure; I have to read more about the problem

Through the random poll, 233 users responded on the poll, out of which 65% of the users went for the second option. They chose to keep using the app as "nothing is private anymore". Other 28% of the respondents stated that they have already shifted to alternatives.

What data does WhatsApp share with Facebook?

In January, the app introduced a privacy policy update. It talked about how we have to allow the app to share our commercial data with Facebook. The update also confirmed that the companies can use the data for cybersecurity as well as targeted advertising and personalized content on the main app. The company maintains that the latest Privacy Policy enables users with the following business-related options:

• Enabling customer service through the platform in terms of chatting with business or asking questions.

• Personalised ads for users based on the ads they click on Facebook on Instagram; helping users chatting with those business owners through a dedicated WhatsApp icon.

• Some businesses with a shop on Facebook or Instagram can also have shops on their WhatsApp business profile. This will allow users to see a business’s products on Facebook and Instagram and shop from it directly through WhatsApp.

Details that the Indian Government has asked on the WhatsApp Privacy Policy

The government had sent a list of 14 questions to WhatsApp on privacy and data security concerns. These include questions on whether WhatsApp conducts profiling of Indian users on the basis or their usage, and the nature of profiling; the difference between the privacy policy of WhatsApp in India and other countries; whether the application captures information about other apps running on the mobile phone of the user; and if the server on which the data of Indian users is transmitted and hosted and its servers’ encryption.

The letter added that collection and sharing of sensitive data such as the time, frequency and duration of interactions, group names or payments and transaction data with Facebook companies will create an ecosystem where any distinction between WhatsApp and other companies of the Facebook group will cease to exist. “This approach has the potential to infringe on core values of data privacy, user choice and autonomy of Indian users. Given the huge user base of WhatsApp and Facebook in India, the consolidation of this sensitive information also exposes a very large segment of Indian citizens to greater information security risk and vulnerabilities creating a potential honeypot of information,” the IT ministry said in the letter to Cathcart.

Read more: Privacy Over Money: Petition wants SC to Ask WhatsApp Not To ‘Lower Privacy Standards’