All WhatsApp users around the world should have already received a message when opening the application where they are prompted to accept a small modification of the Terms and privacy information.To continue using Whatsapp you have to accept the change, but what does this change mean?
Essentially, the user’s consent is requested to share information (including phone number) of the Whatsapp account with Facebook.
As the message explains, even if Facebook will be aware of our phone number and other info related to the personal account of Whatsapp (thus improving the identification of the user), it will still not be able to spy on the chats and will never publish a number of phone and conversations on Facebook.
It is, in fact, the price to pay for using Whatsapp, which is always free and which, as we know, has been owned by Facebook since 2014 (bought for 19 billion dollars).UPDATE: In November 2016, Facebook deactivated the sharing of Whatsapp data in Europe due to legal investigations.
Is there any concern about this interference from Facebook on Whatsapp?
Who uses Facebook and Whatsapp with the knowledge that what is published or written (let’s remember however that Whatsapp chats are encrypted while those of Facebook Messenger still not) is used in the online distribution of advertising and in the creation of marketing statistics sold to companies, not should have nothing to fear.
The only change is that now, who is registered with Whatsapp, must share his number with Facebook (and not “on Facebook”), which can use it in combination with other data to integrate other products or to target targeted advertising based on interests.
Those who were so naive as to think that Whatsapp was different from Facebook and those who thought that the free use of Whatsapp was based on generosity, they could find themselves displaced by this warning and find themselves in the bitter reality of “if it’s free, the product is you”.
After Whatsapp became free for everyone, with no annual subscription, it was pretty clear that Facebook would use the most used chat in the world to generate some profit by sharing data and / or advertising.
Fortunately, there is still no internal advertising in Whatsapp, but data sharing has now been activated.
If this costs us nothing, Facebook can display better and more targeted ads on its site, thanks to this data collection.
Who disagrees with this new Whatsapp data management policy it has two alternatives, stop using Whatsapp (in addition to Facebook) and isolate yourself from most friends (perhaps by downloading Telegram as a substitute) or change a new one option that still allows you to block sharing the phone number with Facebook.
Precisely, to prevent our phone number and other info from being shared on Facebook, you need to open Whatsapp, go to Settings -> Account and disable the option Share account info.
As it is written after the deactivation and before the confirmation, this operation, I do not know why, is irreversible, that is to say, you cannot then go back and reactivate the sharing of information with Facebook.
Facebook could, therefore, limit the use of some products and some functions (such as, perhaps, the possibility of receiving free SMS from Facebook).
We must also consider that this is a partial deactivation and that WhatsApp will still be able to share data for other purposes, such as for the improvement of systems and the app in general.
For all the doubters, WhatsApp has also published a page of FAQ to give more explanations and answer some of the most important questions:
– Will there be ads on WhatsApp?
Short answer: No
– What information is shared with Facebook?
The answer here is a bit vague and it’s not clear which ones are “some information” which will be shared.
Certainly, the phone number will be shared.
– Will information shared by Whatsapp to Facebook be visible to other users on Facebook?
Short answer: No, never, never messages, photos and account information will be shared on Facebook and will not be visible to anyone.