Of late, there have been discussions about new WhatsApp’s terms of service. There are so much skepticism and uncertainty about our data privacy.
One major question that comes to mind is, “are our calls and chats actually safe with new terms and conditions?”
WhatsApp‘s head of service, Will Cathcart tweeted on January 8 implying that the new terms of service do not affect the private communication of people with their friends and families.
This means that no third party including WhatsApp and Facebook can have access to the online communication data of users.
Let’s see for ourselves what WhatsApp has to say about the whole drama.
Official Response from WhatsApp about Terms of Service
WhatsApp published a new FAQ page to its website pointing out its position on user privacy in response to the various criticisms and backlash over the policy update.
On February 8, the policy will go into effect and will impose sensitive data sharing with Facebook on users.
Let us dive into the content of the response which I have paraphrased for your understanding.
- We don’t see your private messages or hear your calls, and neither can Facebook: Whatever you share with your contacts is between you and stays that way. Your messages are still protected by end-to-end encryption and there’s no plan to change that.
- We can’t see your shared location, neither can Facebook: Your location is also protected by end-to-end encryption, and no one can view your location excluding the people you choose to share it with.
- We don’t keep logs of who you are messaging or calling: We believe that keeping records of our users is risky so we don’t do it although mobile carriers and operators do so.
- Groups remain private: Sharing of group data for ad purposes with Facebook is something we would not do. The chats are also protected by end-to-end encryption so we can’t even see their content.
- We don’t share your contact with Facebook: We only access the contacts in your phone book when you permit us to do so. Even at that, we do not share your contact list with other Facebook apps.
- You can download your data: All information we have on your account at the moment can be downloaded within the app.
- You can set your messages to disappear: To improve privacy, you can set your messages to disappear even after you have sent them.
In a nutshell, these are the answers to your question of privacy.
Are you convinced of the legitimacy of WhatsApp’s claims?
Will you agree to the new terms of service?
We will like to know your answers. Simply put them down in the comment section.