WhatsApp pushing back their privacy policy update, but it’s still happening

Last week we reported that WhatsApp were changing their privacy policy to make it compulsory to share your details with Facebook if you wish to continue to keep using WhatsApp after February 8. It seems that WhatsApp copped a lot of backlash from this change and have pushed its roll out back to give them time to explain the changes to everyone.

One might think that WhatsApp would reconsider the changes to their privacy policy given the bad publicity they have encountered but according to a blog post by them today it has all been a big misunderstanding. To give them time to better explain this change in its policy they have pushed back the implementation of the new policy to May 15.

Messages and chats between friends, groups and businesses will continue to remain private and end-to-end encrypted — just as we reported — and the locations will not be shared either.

According to WhatsApp the intent of the change in policy is to provide new options for people to message businesses on WhatsApp and to improve the transparency about how they collect and use data. They seem to think that: “while not everyone shops with a business on WhatsApp today, we think that more people will choose to do so in the future and it’s important people are aware of these services.“

This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook.

— WhatsApp

WhatsApp say that they remain committed to end-to-end encryption and to defending this security technology now and in the future. The reason for the sharing is that messages with businesses on WhatsApp may be stored on Facebook servers which requires data sharing between Facebook and WhatsApp. Seems legit to me.

WhatsApp hope that this will appease all those with concerns over the sharing of certain details of theirs with Facebook and that their (former) users will stop leaving them in droves.