WhatsApp has revealed how it will gradually paralyze the accounts of users who do not accept the imminent changes in the platform’s privacy policy, which will take effect on May 15.
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The new WhatsApp banner that explains the changes in the privacy policy
According to an email seen by TechCrunch to one of its trading partners, WhatsApp said it will “slowly ask” users who have not yet accepted policy changes to meet the new conditions over the coming weeks, “in order to have the full functionality of WhatsApp” from of May 15th.
If they still don’t accept the terms, “for a short time, these users will be able to receive calls and notifications, but won’t be able to read or send messages from the app,” the company added in the note.
The company confirmed it TechCrunch that the note accurately characterizes his plan and that the “short time” will last a few weeks. WhatsApp’s policy for inactive users states that accounts “are generally deleted after 120 days of inactivity.”
WhatsApp first announced its new terms of use earlier last month and many changes interpreted the changes of the moment in the sense that the platform would share its messages with the parent company Facebook.
In fact, private messages between users will remain end-to-end encrypted, so that only those in the conversation can access them. However, WhatsApp also allows users to send messages to businesses and the same protections will not apply to those messages. Business message data may be used for commercial purposes, such as ad segmentation on Facebook, with some data stored on Facebook’s servers.
The misperception provoked a backlash among users of the Facebook-owned platform, leading to an exodus to rival messaging apps such as Telegram and Signal, which were quick to exploit the situation by persuading previous users with more chat features conventional.
Since then, WhatsApp has used app status updates to clarify that the update does not affect Facebook data sharing in terms of user chats or profile information, as the new terms s ‘apply to those who use the business chat feature.
In the weeks leading up to May, WhatsApp will begin deploying a small in-app banner (pictured above) that users can tap to review privacy policies again.
Touching the banner will show a more detailed summary of the changes, including more details on how WhatsApp works with Facebook. The company that owns Facebook says it will eventually remind users to read the new policy and agree to continue using the app.