The messaging platform has told users to allow it to share more of their data with parent company Facebook or have their account shut down. [VIA OPEN DEMOCRACY]
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In early January, an in-app ultimatum told WhatsApp users to accept an update that would share more of their data with parent company Facebook, or have their account closed by 8 February.
Given Facebook’s record of intrusive advertising and security incidents, it came as no surprise that competitors such as Telegram and Signal reported a subsequent spike in users.
WhatsApp has been millions of people’s communication ‘daily driver’ for more than a decade, so users’ concerns are not a niche technicality – for many, it is an essential service.
Although data-sharing policies will reportedly remain unaltered in the EU and UK due to rigid privacy regulations, the changes have sparked widespread reflection.
UPDATED: January 23, 2021 13:00 IST
(Illustration by Nilanjan Das)
On January 4, millions of WhatsApp users across the world found an in-app pop-up notifying them that from February 8 the messenger platform s terms of services and privacy policy would change, and users must accept the new terms to keep using the app. In the new privacy policy, WhatsApp removed a passage on allowing users to opt out of sharing certain data with Facebook, its parent firm.
This take-it-or-leave-it policy led to massive outrage against WhatsApp for being cavalier with its users privacy. Many shifted to other chat platforms such as Telegram and Signal. WhatsApp saw a 7 per cent decline in daily instals within a week of the release of the new privacy policy. In contrast, Signal saw an 18-fold increase in downloads between January 6 and 10. In India, two PILs-one in the Supreme Court and one in the Delhi High Court-were filed seeking legal intervention to prevent WhatsApp from forcing users to share p