While nothing has changed in the privacy policy, Facebook-owned WhatsApp will not delete users’ accounts if they do not accept it. Users will, however, lose a significant amount of functionality. The functions include the addition of new restrictions on access to one’s chat list, notifications, and calls on a regular basis.
You will be reminded to accept the new policy every time you open the app, and if you continue to refuse, WhatsApp will eventually become more or less useless to you.
You will initially be able to answer incoming voice and video calls.
If you have notifications turned on, you can also use them to read or respond to messages.
You can reschedule a missed audio or video call.
After a few weeks, you will no longer receive WhatsApp calls, messages, or notifications.
Those who embrace the new policy will see no variation in their interaction. However, if you keep WhatsApp installed on your phone and continue to refuse to accept the policy, WhatsApp will not delete your account immediately. If you don’t connect for 120 days, it will most likely delete your account due to “inactivity.”
What’s The Big Deal About WhatsApp New Privacy Update?
When Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014, the messaging platform issued a new privacy policy a few years later in 2016 that stated that from now on, it will connect your phone number with Facebook’s systems in order to offer better friend suggestions and show you more relevant ads.
This means that WhatsApp has already shared some information with its parent company Facebook, and with its new 2021 privacy policy, it wants to share even more data with Facebook, including WhatsApp payment and transaction data. Though the company has stated that users’ chats are secure, their calls are end-to-end encrypted, their contacts are not shared with Facebook, and neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can read the messages, the unnecessary need to collect excessive data in the name of showing relevant ads has raised concerns among its users.
“WhatsApp does not plan to begin accessing its users’ information with Facebook. That is not what it proposes. Why is this so? Since it has been doing this for a long time. Everyone had the opportunity to opt out once in 2016, for a limited time. If I was there, and if I also had a Facebook account for a limited time in 2016, I was given the option that Mishi can opt-out and say I don’t want whatever on WhatsApp to be shared on Facebook,” Mishi explained.
“If I wasn’t using WhatsApp in 2016, and I signed up later or simply didn’t or forgot because it was only available for a very limited time, I didn’t do it. I’m powerless right now. Now, WhatsApp will continue to report me to Facebook,” she added.
Mishi explained that a notice was issued in which the Supreme Court requested responses on how you protect users’ privacy and what this new policy does. Meanwhile, the Competition Commission of India has begun an investigation into this new privacy policy.
So, the Competition Commission of India wants to investigate how much data will be collected – excessive data collection – and how that data will be used and shared among the various entities that Facebook employs.
And, because they are the dominant player in the market, how does this affect other competitors? What effect will it have on other people’s privacy?
