When Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014, it pledged to keep the two services separate. “The more data they profile, the more they put people in vulnerable positions at risk.”Īnd the social network isn’t known for keeping promises. She cites the example of Facebook’s “people you may know” algorithm exposing sex workers’ real names to their clients – despite both parties taking care to set up fake identities. Its practices can put vulnerable people at risk, says Emily Overton, a data protection expert and managing director of RMGirl. This can be shared with “Facebook companies”.įacebook’s highly criticised data collection ethos has eroded trust in the social network. The messaging app doesn’t gather the content of your chats, but it does collect the metadata attached to them – such as the sender, the time a message was sent and who it was sent to. WhatsApp has stated that in the UK and EU the update does not share further data with Facebook – because of strict privacy regulation, known as the general update to data protection regulation (GDPR). WhatsApp does share some data with Facebook, including phone numbers and profile name, but this has been happening for years. The more data they profile, the more they put people in vulnerable positions at risk The BBC reported that Signal was downloaded 246,000 times worldwide in the week before WhatsApp announced the change on 4 January, and 8.8m times the week after.

The bungled communication attempts have raised awareness that WhatsApp does collect a lot of data, and some of this could be shared with Facebook.

Crucially, WhatsApp said, the new policy doesn’t affect the content of your chats, which remain protected by end-to-end encryption – the “gold standard” of security that means no one can view the content of messages, even WhatsApp, Facebook, or the authorities.īut the damage had already been done. The messaging app also delayed the introduction of the policy by three months. WhatsApp soon issued a clarification, explaining that the new policy only affects the way users’ accounts interact with businesses (ie not with their friends) and does not mandate any new data collection. Unsurprisingly, it prompted a fierce backlash, with many users threatening to stop using the service. But the new privacy policy wasn’t particularly clear, and it was widely misinterpreted to mean WhatsApp would be sharing more sensitive personal data with its parent company Facebook. E arlier this month, WhatsApp issued a new privacy policy along with an ultimatum: accept these new terms, or delete WhatsApp from your smartphone.

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