How will WhatsApp’s new privacy policy impact users?

January 10, 2021 02:40 AM AEDT | By Kunal Sawhney

How will WhatsApp’s new privacy policy impact users?

What’s creating the stir?

After the new update, WhatsApp will be collecting more metadata than ever. WhatsApp has also made some changes as to how this data will be shared with Facebook which would be utilised by other companies and advertisers.

The major concern regarding the collection and sharing of data is, the storage of the user’s chats on the WhatsApp’s servers would now also be shared with Facebook. Also, the data from the smartphone’s gallery, GPS etc. would all be shared with the third-party apps too.

Some proponents of user’s privacy think that this could easily be misused in some countries as there is a lack of legislation regarding third-party assessment as to what and how the data can be shared with the third parties.

Is there any alternative?

As soon as the matter caught heat around the world, users started venting their anger on social media platforms. However, other IM apps like Telegram and Signal are becoming an alternative for the furious users.

The matter has caught the attention of Tesla CEO Elon Musk who openly endorsed the highly encrypted IM app, Signal. Signal was a relatively lesser-known IM app until Elon Musk tweeted “Use Signal.” It is an end-to-end encrypted non-profit organisation and runs on donations, unlike WhatsApp.

Elon Musk’s tweet had such a huge impact on the furious users that Signal started receiving unprecedented traffic for the registration, taking a toll on its servers.

Facebook, however, has not responded to this entire episode, as of now.

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