New Delhi: A huge controversy has been brewing for the last few days with reports of WhatsApp users alleging leak of their private messages with family and friends on search engines. To clarify the doubts, the Facebook-owned messaging service has issued yet another clarification. WhatsApp has said the change in its recently revised policy ‘does not affect privacy of messages with friends or family’.
The messaging app further shared how privacy is followed and the list of information that is not shared with Facebook.
The list says:
WhatsApp cannot see your private messages or hear your calls and neither can Facebook.
WhatsApp does keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling.
WhatsApp cannot see your shared location and neither can Facebook.
WhatsApp does not share your contacts with Facebook.
WhatsApp groups remains private.
You can set your messages to disappear.
You can download your data.
See link: https://twitter.com/WhatsApp/status/1348839600333049857/photo/1
WhatsApp also addressed the biggest concerns about ‘group privacy’. It said, “We don’t share this data with Facebook for ads. Again, these private chats are end-to-end encrypted so we can’t see their content.”
For ‘additional privacy’, WhatsApp has suggested its users to change message message settings to ‘disappear from chats after you send them’. Complete steps on how to accomplish this have been shared on its website.
This is the second clarification to be issued by the cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP service provider since it revamped its privacy policy stating it will share data with its parent company Facebook.
It is mandatory for the user to accept the new terms of use, failing which the user’s account would be deleted when the policy comes into effect in February.
The update has prompted an exodus of sorts from WhatsApp, which has 400 million users in India alone. Hence WhatsApp is trying to prevent the exodus. Most of those who are deserting WhatsApp are shifting either to ‘Signal’ or ‘Telegram’. For most users ‘Signal’ is the best option after world’s richest man Elon Musk vouched for its safety.