The Supreme Court today told social media firm Facebook and its messaging app, WhatsApp, that it will have to intervene to protect people's privacy in the wake of the latter's new policy in this regard. Issuing a notice to the Centre, along with the two platforms, the court is now set examine the popular service's fresh course on this front.
WhatsApp privacy policy | 5% Indian users quit app, 21% migrated to alternate platforms: Survey
WhatsApp has deferred the data-sharing update to May after facing a severe backlash over its new privacy policy and terms of service. January 29, 2021 / 09:15 AM IST
WhatsApp s move to change privacy policy pushed 5 percent of Indian users to delete the Facebook-owned messaging app, a survey has found. A majority of the respondents said that they would not use Whatsapp payment features and may discontinue business chat if the app shared information with Facebook and third parties.
The survey, conducted by online platform Localcircles around WhatsApp s new terms of service, covered more than 17,000 respondents across the country, which is the biggest market for the messaging platform. While 21 percent of respondents claimed that they were using alternative messaging apps actively, 22 percent said they have drastically cut the use of WhatsApp.
Privacy and Manipulation: How Social Media Has Affected Political Discourse
As our interactions with social media and messaging apps become more and more pervasive, does our data remain private or can it be used by algorithms to tailor and manipulate our online experience?
The social media messaging application WhatsApp recently updated its privacy policy. WhatsApp has tried to assure users that it cannot read or listen to personal conversations and has even delayed the implementation of the new policy. Yet, concerns have been raised about the potential for it sharing user data with parent company Facebook. While the app uses end-to-end encryption for messages and will continue to do so with the new privacy update, it already shares user data, such as about location, contacts, usage and identifiers, with Facebook. Therefore, experts have explained that the key difference in the new policy relates to how users engage in “business interactions.”