WhatsApp on Thursday indicated that it will go ahead with its controversial privacy policy as it announced an outreach exercise to familiarise users with it.
“In the coming weeks, we’ll display a banner in WhatsApp providing more information that people can read at their own pace,” the messaging platform said in a blog post. “We’ve also included more information to try and address concerns we’re hearing. Eventually, we’ll start reminding people to review and accept these updates to keep using WhatsApp.”
The company explained how it will provide users more clarity about its policies. “We’ve reflected on what we could have done better here,” WhatsApp said. “We want everyone to know our history of defending end-to-end encryption and trust we’re committed to protecting people’s privacy and security. We’re now using our Status feature to share our values and updates directly within WhatsApp. We’ll be doing much more to make our voice clear going forward.”
In January, WhatsApp sent users a notification that it was preparing a new privacy policy, and it reserved the right to share some user data with Facebook. However, after facing massive backlash and with millions of users moving to other messaging platforms like Signal and Telegram, WhatsApp decided to defer the changes to May 15. The company said it will do more to clear misinformation about the policy.
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SC asks WhatsApp to give undertaking on new privacy policy, says ‘people value privacy over money’
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court directed WhatsApp to give an undertaking that private data of users was not being shared with a third party. The court told the messaging platform that people valued their privacy more than money.
The Centre had on January 19 expressed strong concerns about WhatsApp’s privacy policy in a letter to Chief Executive Officer Will Cathcart, according to Hindustan Times. The government had also asked the messaging platform to respect the privacy and security of Indian users.
An unidentified official from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology told the newspaper that WhatsApp had not formally told the government whether or not it will go ahead with the privacy policy. “The ministry will respond after it reviews the matter,” the official said.
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