When Facebook bought WhatsApp for a whopping $19 billion, there was no doubt that sooner or later the social media giant would try to recoup its money and turn WhatsApp into something profitable. Here’s how it begins.
Key facts:
- WhatsApp encrypts your messages. Nobody but you and the person you are talking to can read them. That means your conversations cannot be reposted on Facebook or analyzed for marketing and advertising purposes.
- There will be no banner ads on WhatsApp — at least, for now. But you will probably receive commercial messages from companies.
Facebook will access data that includes how frequently you use WhatsApp and with whom you chat.
WhatsApp shares your data to boost Facebook advertising. Here is how to stop it
- Facebook will use the data it collects to make the advertising it shows you more relevant. That means what you do on WhatsApp will change what you see on Facebook. If you dislike this idea, you can opt out.
When you see the new Terms and Conditions proposition, you can click the arrow button below the AGREE option and untick the checkbox that says that you agree to share your data with Facebook.
- If you’ve already accepted the new terms and conditions, you can open Settings -> Account and uncheck that box.
- Only current WhatsApp users can opt out of sharing their data. New users will have no choice but to give their data to Facebook.
- Data sharing will not affect people who use WhatsApp but not Facebook.
- If you value privacy and want a place to communicate freely, without intrusive ads and the like, try another messaging app. Here is a list of the most secure chatting apps. Unfortunately, your choices may be limited by what your friends and colleagues use — until you persuade your circle of contacts to value privacy as much as you do.
With the changes to @WhatsApp and sharing #data with #FB, what will you do? #privacy
— Kaspersky (@kaspersky) August 29, 2016
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