WhatsApp 2021 privacy policy: No, they don’t own your photos, files etc; ignore fake viral message

KEY STORY

• A new fake message is being shared on WhatsApp, which makes false claims about the app’s new privacy policy. The message says there is a new rule which allows WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram to use your images, messages, files, and other information for their personal gain.

• The message even requests you to forward it in 10 groups, after which if you receive a green tick, it means that “your phone is protected against the new rule.”

• This is a fake message and WhatsApp users are advised to not forward it to anyone. In a blog post, WhatsApp has reiterated that it does not share any user data with Facebook. The messaging app is end-to-end encrypted, so the company cannot access your chats, images, personal files, or any other private information. The service can’t track your calls.

• End-to-end encryption basically means that your messages are secured with a lock, and only the receiver and sender have the special key needed to unlock and read them.

• WhatsApp has been making headlines lately. Earlier this year, the Facebook-owned company updated its privacy policy, which stated that the service may use some of your information for marketing purposes. This sparked concerns among privacy-conscious people with most of them saying they would switch to different a messaging app.

• The company later clarified that the update will not change the end-to-end encryption of personal conversations, and only business conversation hosted with the app might be readable and used for advertising. “Messaging with businesses is different than messaging with your family or friends” and some “large businesses need to use hosting services to manage their communication,” WhatsApp said.

CONCLUSION

• WhatsApp also reported that it will “clearly label conversations with businesses that are choosing to use hosting services from Facebook.” The company also gave a few months of time to users to understand the new terms.

• WhatsApp says you can stop using the messaging app if you don’t want to accept the 2021 privacy policy. If you continue to use it without accepting the new update, then WhatsApp will slowly limit all the features and you will have to eventually accept the policy or move to a different app.