Here’s what that WhatsApp privacy policy pop-up means for you
Integration with Facebook companies
The updated policy says that WhatsApp may send you marketing material about Facebook companies. Plus, the firm will use your data collected from the app and other Facebook services for content suggestions, people recommendations, and ads along with service improvements.
Facebook has already integratedInstagram and Messenger for cross-platform communication. And with this new change, it aims to provide “integrations which enable you to connect your WhatsApp experiences with other Facebook Company Products.”
Interacting with businesses
WhatsApp Business —the service that lets merchants communicate with regular users on the platform, using additional commerce features— has grown quite a bit in the last few years, withmore than 50 million users.To expand this figure, the company will let businesses integrate other services into the chat app. So, as a part of that, third-party apps (for example a customer support partner such as Zendesk) might be able to read your communication on behalf of the business you’re interacting with.
What’s more, third-party services you use inside WhatsApp may be able to get some of your information. For instance, an in-app video player may know your IP address. While allowing in-app interactions may add convenience to users, it’s important to know what information they’re giving away in exchange.
WhatsApp’s changes come on the heels of controversy thatsuggests the chat app collects much more data than Apple’s iMessage,if we go by the App Store’s privacy label. While the new privacy policy doesn’t have a direct impact on your usage, we might see changes in the way we interact with the app in long term.
You can read WhatsApp’s updated privacy policyhere.
Story byIvan Mehta
Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW. That’s one heck of a mixed bag. He likes to say “Bleh.“Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW. That’s one heck of a mixed bag. He likes to say “Bleh.”
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