WhatsApp has updated its terms and conditions section to include further Facebook integration – including a requirement that app users share data with the company.
As WhatsApp is the central social point of communication within South Africa, it is essential that app users take a minute to understand these new privacy rules they are agreeing to.
In an in-app message sent to users this week, WhatsApp said that the changes will include:
- Updates to WhatsApp’s service and how it processes your data;
- How businesses can use Facebook hosted services to store and manage their WhatsApp chats;
- How WhatsApp will partner with Facebook to offer integrations across Facebook Company products.
WhatsApp said that these changes will officially come into effect from 8 February. After this date, any user which has not agreed to the new terms will no longer be able to use the messaging service.
New Privacy T & Cs can be found
here
ArsTechnica reports that some of the data that WhatsApp collects includes:
- User phone numbers;
- Other people’s phone numbers stored in address books;
- Profile names;
- Profile pictures;
- Status message including when a user was last online;
- Diagnostic data collected from app logs.
Under the new terms, Facebook reserves the right to share collected data with its family of companies.
Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014. The company was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton who had previously spent 20 years combined at Yahoo.
More than two billion people in over 180 countries use the app, which is currently available as a free download.
Information provided by Business Tech Insider.
