WhatsApp has updated its privacy policy to include a section explaining how it shares data with other Facebook brands like Instagram.
Millions of Zimbabweans users received an in-app notification from WhatsApp as part of an upcoming global roll-out for over 2 billion users, asking them to either accept the changes in its Terms of Service and privacy policy by February 8 or their accounts will be deleted.
The in-app notification did not elicit many details but clicking on the links clearly mentioned the key changes in how WhatsApp will collect and process users’ information going forward, and the partnership with Facebook, its parent company, as part of a larger unification drive between the family of apps.
“WhatsApp must receive or collect some information to operate, provide, improve, understand, customise, support, and market our Services, including when you install, access, or use our Services,” the updated policy read.
“Businesses you interact with using our Services may provide us with information about their interactions with you. We require each of these businesses to act in accordance with applicable law when providing any information to us” whatsapp added.
There isn’t much detail in WhatsApp’s new privacy section, but there aren’t any shocking revelations, either. The chat service is outlining functionality you’d likely expect. Still, this is a reminder that WhatsApp is just one part of a larger Facebook ecosystem, and that your data won’t necessarily stay within the service — worth noting, even if your data won’t travel very far.
To recall, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in October said that the company is working hard to merge Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp so that they can start to function a little bit more like one connected interoperable system.
