Changes in Whatsapp this is what really happens with your data. What will change about its new privacy terms and whom will affect?
Actually, everything is quite simple, but the interest to attract your attention may cause, in certain web sites, some exaggerations and a little bit of confusion.
And because of that, I will try to explain you everything, including the WhatsApp changing aspects, what that means for its users, and why, if you live in Europe, you don’t have to worry about it. So, if that concerns you or you have any questions about this matter, your mind will keep quite.
Which are the changes in the new privacy policies
In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for $ 16 billion. During the acquisition process, when it received the permits from the European Commission, Facebook ensured that it did not have a reliable and automatic way to link the WhatsApp and Facebook accounts of their users. However, once the operation was completed, they announced that they would begin to combine these data and because of that, the European Union accused them of providing misleading information.
Temporary WhatsApp messages: what they are, their limits and how to use them
The new privacy policy is a new step in this direction: the data of WhatsApp users will be shared with the other Facebook or Instagram services. This is a mandatory change and it means that its users must accept this condition if they want to continue using WhatsApp. If they don’t accept, they won’t be able to use the app.
But there is an important matter: this change does not apply to users belonging to the European Union. That is due to the European data protection regulation, (EU-GDPR) that forbids Facebook to share the WhatsApp data with other companies, to its own profit.
Therefore, if you live in Spain, France, Italy or any other country, member of the European Union, these changes will not affect you; even if you accept them, Facebook will not share your data with the rest of the applications of its company.
Sharing this data, Facebook aims to have more complete profiles of all its users, by unifying the information they provided (and also the information they not provide but it somehow collects) through all the applications belonging to a single profile. That will help WhatsApp to better target its advertising campaigns, to the personal likings of its users and so to earn more money through a more effective advertising.
Why that does not affect European countries?
As I have told you, in 2016 Facebook began to combine some data of its WhatsApp users, specifically their telephone numbers, with the rest of the companies. That prompted the authorities to initiate an investigation, and Facebook temporarily cancelled such a policy that, however, is still effective today.
In fact, WhatsApp has a kind of sub-company created only for European users, so that, here, users don’t have to share contents. The app used worldwide belongs to the company WhatsApp LLC, while in Europe it belongs to the company WhatsApp Ireland Limited. Since the companies are distinct, the conditions and agreements offered to European users are approved by the European Commission and are different from those offered in the rest of the world.
But what happens in America and other continents?
It is necessary to understand that data privacy is an issue that Europe has been working on during several years; sometimes we do not give the true importance to our data on internet and that cause a certain misunderstandings about the application.
First of all, the arrogance with our personal data and its daring in the way of using them (the company itself or its partners), is a legacy of Facebook’s habit. So it is not surprising that people put up that Facebook changed WhatsApp policies in a fraudulent way.
Second, people have understood that privacy policies are confused and they don’t really have the “power” to do something, obliging companies to collect less data.
Chats are still safe for everyone
One thing that should be clear for you is that Facebook cannot read what you write in your chats, so that, in no case and in no place, the conversations content will be sent to them. And it is so because WhatsApp uses what is known as end-to-end encryption.
Facebook cannot see the content of messages or phone calls because WhatsApp communications are encrypted. Facebook also says that it does not keep logs about people you contact through WhatsApp, and that WhatsApp contacts are not shared through Facebook.
WhatsApp has many positive aspects. It is easy to use and the communication is secure but it is true that WhatsApp is Facebook and we should remember that many people do not trust in Facebook.
There are alternatives apps, such as Telegram and Signal that recently have received a large number of new users.
It seems that the understanding of what happens with our digital data, require an advanced training in computer science and a law degree. And Facebook, a company owning a lot of money and a stock value of more than $ 700 billion, did not or could not explain what was happening in such a manner that people could understand it.
If you do not have a Facebook or Instagram account, your WhatsApp will continue working the same; perhaps in the future they will add some advertising on their platform, but if you live outside Europe, the new privacy policy will surely merge your data with the two applications Facebook and Instagram.
A personal and ethical debate
If you refuse to accept these policies, your account will surely be disabled. There are other alternative applications such as Telegram or Signal, performing the same function, something like Coca-Cola and Pepsi. If you consider that your data are not so important and you have no accounts on social networks like Facebook or Instagram, you may leave your account as it is and continue with the service.
At the end, that is a personal decision. If you ask me for a suggestion, I would tell you to install Telegram and to learn a little about its use, so that you will not depend only on a single operator. Remember that, on internet, nothing is free and we pay for these applications through our data; these companies know what we like and what we don’t, in order to focus on advertising and they sell these data to big multinationals that, later, will send us their advertising as it is already happening with TV or radio. What a dilemma!
By: Webmaster