WhatsApp privacy policy: Amid numerous problems around its updated privacy policy, WhatsApp seems to have extended the deadline for accepting this policy in some places till June 19 this year. Earlier, the instant messaging platform had given users till May 15 to accept its ‘take it or leave it’ updated policy, but as it got closer to the date, it decided to not take any immediate action against users who had not accepted it. The Facebook-owned platform had stated that the accounts that do not accept the policy would not be disabled. Still, reports state that WhatsApp has set a new deadline in a few places and this time also it states that users would have to accept the policy to continue using the platform.
The reports have suggested that users have been receiving notifications about the updated deadline in places like Argentina and Germany. Moreover, the pop-up message says that the updated policy is in line with the new data protection laws of the European Union, asserting that in order to continue using WhatsApp, users would have to accept the policy by June 19. Reports have also said that while users can choose to ignore this pop-up, if they wish to continue having the full functionality of the instant messaging platform they would need to accept the policy.
Also read | Germany has banned WhatsApp’s controversial ‘take it or leave it’ privacy policy that comes into effect on May 15, will India be next?
The controversial privacy policy was first brought in by WhatsApp in January this year, and users were given till February 8 to accept the policy, with no choice of not accepting it. This soon led to global outrage as the updated policy enlisted some additional data that WhatsApp would be sharing with parent company Facebook, which is already in trouble over its targeted ads revenue model. The criticism and investigation into the policy in many places made WhatsApp defer the deadline to May 15 so that it could clear out any “misinformation” about its privacy policy.
It also chose to not disable accounts on May 15 for people who did not accept the policy, and said that it would instead continue to follow up with such accounts and inform them more about the updated policy. Throughout this controversy, WhatsApp has maintained that the new provisions in the policy are only regarding the business accounts and will not impact the security and end-to-end encryption of the way personal or group chats and calls function.
