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Jacob Hudill
Jacob Hudill

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DATA Privacy Policy: Is WhatsApp "Really" Sharing Your Data with Facebook?

When we talk about different data applications, how can we forget the WhatsApp application, which nowadays, is the hottest topic? WhatsApp was founded by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, who were the former employees of Yahoo! A single idea from the iPhone changed its path and helped to create the WhatsApp application.

WhatsApp is used by more than two million people worldwide. This is the most common mode of communication that has been trusted by many customers worldwide. Everyone is connected with their friends and family via WhatsApp as they can reach each other anytime and from anywhere.

WhatsApp has been providing services from 2009 and from 2014 the Facebook is owning the WhatsApp application. But what happened in Jan. 2021 had changed the thinking of the people. Why everyone is objecting to the latest privacy policy of WhatsApp? What are those terms? Is your data safe with this application?

Here in this post, you will know all about the updated privacy policy of WhatsApp and what are the latest changes that are objected to by many people.

How Does WhatsApp Protect Your Personal Messages?

The privacy policy of WhatsApp is user-friendly, which has made the application the best of all. WhatsApp secures your message and calling data for you and protects it from interrupters. It provides 7 data security services to their customers, which are mentioned below.

7 Data Security Services From WhatsApp Application

The different data security services of WhatsApp application are as follows:

1.Nor the WhatsApp neither Facebook can see your messages or hear your calls.
2.WhatsApp does not keep logs of messaging and calling whoever you do.
3.Nor the WhatsApp neither Facebook can track your shared location.
4.WhatsApp never shares your contact list with anyone, not even to Facebook.
5.You can create many groups on WhatsApp as it remains private and doesn’t share any conversations.
6.If you want the old messages to disappear over time, WhatsApp offers a feature of “disappearing messages” that automatically erases the chat.
7.You can save, download the data and backups for the future.

With all of these features, WhatsApp has been used by millions of people; but in the last 10 days, its ranking has fallen down. And the reason is the latest privacy policies.

The New Data Privacy Policy of the WhatsApp:

Nowadays, the hot topic for data privacy policy is WhatsApp. Everyone is confused with the new terms and conditions of WhatsApp. WhatsApp is owned by the Facebook app, which in relation has created a great problem for WhatsApp.

According to the new data privacy policy, WhatsApp can share the private messages and calling details with the Facebook. The new WhatsApp programming help Facebook application to access all the contact details and other private information of the user.

This is an issue of privacy and for messaging and calling, it is the most important part of the user's life. If the service provider will try to enter the private space of the user, then they have to face bad results. The WhatsApp has also faced bad and downturn because of the latest changes that they want to add.

What Is the Impact of New Data Privacy Policy Issue?

The notification for the acceptance of the latest privacy policy of WhatsApp asks to accept the policy, or they cannot use the application anymore. This notification has changed the world of WhatsApp as many users have switched their accounts to different applications.

The most profited applications with this criticism of WhatsApp are the Signal app & Telegram app. Here is a brief about them.

Signal App - Signal is also a messaging app with a "Say hello to privacy" tagline. The signal app was funded by the ex-co founder of WhatsApp, Brian Acton, and current CEO of Signal App Moxie Marlinspike.

Both the WhatsApp & Signal App are the same as you get features, like - secure messaging, voice calls, and video calls, all with end-to-end encryption. But, this app also has a great feature called Sealed Sender, which protects the privacy of the sender and the receiver along with the messages.

Telegram App - 2013 launched telegram app is the IM software and application. They provide an end-to-end encrypted call and messaging option with the extra feature of secret messaging. The brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov founded this app for the customers.

Only between Jan 6 to 10, the users of these two applications has grown highly as the users didn’t accept the policy of WhatsApp and switched to one of these apps.

According to the report of the Sensor Tower, Signal is the big winner so far with 2.3 million new downloads, and Telegram had 1.5 million new downloads while the downloads of WhatsApp fell 35% in the same period. Social media platforms are filled with tweets and posts to highlight the traffic that is getting nowadays.

After facing this drastic fall in the users and reviews, now WhatsApp’s spokesman is communicating with the media and helping the users to understand the policy.

The Clarification of WhatsApp CEO on Controversy:

According to the latest policy, now WhatsApp can share your personal data with Facebook as it is the parent company. But according to WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart’s reply to the ministry of electronics and information technology of India, the latest policies are only for the small businesses so that they can grow and create new customers. He assured that WhatsApp always protects your personal messages with end-to-end encryption, which means neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see them.

After watching this reaction of the users now, WhatsApp has put the policy on hold that was going to be applied from February. They are going to make some changes in the privacy policy to make it more user- friendly.

This post is to make aware the users of different applications and software that your privacy is your space in which no one can enter until you approve. So, not only WhatsApp, whenever you install or use a new application or software, read the privacy policies carefully. This will help you to save yourself from any consequences that may negatively affect you after a while.

SUMMING UP:
Because of all these criticism, WhatsApp owner has put the application date of privacy policy on hold. Hope that they are going to change the argued points and come soon with better and user friendly terms & conditions.

WhatsApp can’t share the user's data with Facebook without permission, and users will never allow them. So, it’s clear that WhatsApp has to maintain user-friendly policies if they want to stay in the market.

ABOUT GUEST AUTHOR
Jacob is a postgraduate and currently working with a data analyst. He is fond of writing that’s why he works part-time for the Assignment Help Australia as a blogger for the past few years. He provides assistance and guidance to the data-friendly audience so that they can stay aware and techno-friendly in this world of technology. He has helped many students to achieve their career in technology. He believes that everyone has the courage and skills to become what they want. Also, in his free time, he goes out camping or hiking with his friends.

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