WhatsApp postpones deadline on new data share policy
No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8.
With WhatsApp users flocking to alternative social media messaging apps, WhatsApp has backtracked on its decision to enforce new privacy policies from the 8th of February. Instead, WhatsApp has now given users until the 15th of May 2021 to familiarise themselves with the new policy before making a decision.
Both Telegram and Signal had received massive spikes in registered users over the past few weeks as social media users scramble to find an alternative day-to-day social messaging app. Ipeleng Magoro (21) said although she was not sure what the new policy meant, she had already made a swift switch to Telegram.
“I accidentally agreed to those terms without reading, to be honest,” she said.
“Then when people started sharing articles about how our chats would be analysed and how much personal information the app would be sharing with Facebook, I deactivated my WhatsApp account and opened one for Telegram. I’m getting used to telegram now.”
From a new member to an old one, Mandla Khuzwayo said he already had Telegram for years, so the switch was not a difficult one.
“I’ve been using Telegram for a couple of years. I was introduced to it by a colleague. I have been using it to send larger files, but not so much for texting. I see a lot more people now have joined in,” said Khuzwayo.
As fears around privacy mount, social media users have accused the messaging app giant of trying to ‘steal’ personal information. WhatsApp has, however, through a blog post, denied these claims. WhatsApp said there had been confusion as to what the new privacy terms would mean.
“We’ve heard from so many people how much confusion there is around our recent update. This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook,” the blog post read.
“No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8. We’re also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security work on WhatsApp. We’ll then go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15,” WhatsApp added.
While Telegram seems to be leading the way for an alternative app, rival Signal is close at the heels with an endorsement from South African born billionaire, Elon Musk, who simply tweeted “use Signal” to his 42.5 million Twitter followers in addition to being openly critical of WhatsApp’s sister app, Facebook.
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