WhatsApp to delay new privacy policy by three months following widespread confusion over whether the policy would mandate data sharing with Facebook
but what's the point? Yash Wate / TechPP : WhatsApp delays new privacy policy update after user backlash Tweets: @whatsapp : Thank you to everyone who's reached out. We're still working to counter any confusion by communicating directly with @WhatsApp users. No one will have their account suspended or deleted on Feb 8 and we'll be moving back our business plans until after May - https://blog.whatsapp.com/... @spygmi : A good example how too vague and hard-to-understand privacy legalese can hurt a business - these days people are privacy aware and as there are options available, legal mumbo-jumbo and dark patterns just won't cut it. Era of legal tech/ops? https://twitter.com/... Brijesh Bharadwaj / @bbharadwaj : Feeling bad for the PM of this update 😕 But how they did not show that screen to users and ask what they felt is beyond me. I thought big companies do extensive research on such potentially dicey updates https://twitter.com/... Rat King / @mikeisaac : NEWS: WhatsApp delays privacy changes amid a backlash and user exodus https://www.nytimes.com/... Phumzile Van Damme / @zilevandamme : I want to say that WhatsApp is responding to the backlash, has reflected & will change its data mining policy, but no, this is to allow people to forget & continue using their product. PR this. Facebook has learned nothing, will change nothing. The market will respond accordingly https://twitter.com/... Dan Gillmor / @dangillmor : WhatsApp isn't delaying anything. Since Facebook owns WhatsApp, Facebook is delaying the new policy. https://twitter.com/... @techcrunch : WhatsApp delays new data-sharing policy enforcement to May 15 https://techcrunch.com/... by @refsrc Hannah Murphy / @mshannahmurphy : BREAKING: WhatsApp has delayed the roll-out of its new privacy policy for three months, citing “confusion” and “misinformation” about the changes - which have sent worried users flocking to lesser-known apps Signal and Telegram https://www.ft.com/... Shiv Aroor / @shivaroor : Whatsapp yields, postpones its new India terms of service for 4 months. What a messy mess. https://twitter.com/... Ben Adida / @benadida : I always wanted a world where privacy would become a competitive advantage. I'm not convinced it will ever be more important than that awesome new feature users want, but if one can build a great competitor that is *also* private, then yeah, maybe that wins. So good. https://twitter.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarren : I think people are only confused about this because they don't trust Facebook https://twitter.com/... Eric / @wheatpond : too late 😈 https://twitter.com/... @iyad_elbaghdadi : Whatsapp has now given its users more time to delete whatsapp and move over to Signal https://twitter.com/... @hakkiocal : This is not what we asked for. Just apply the EU conditions to your users in Turkey and to the rest of the world. Delaying is not correcting the wrong you are going to do. https://twitter.com/... @profcarroll : (Worth noting that Brian Acton, WhatsApp co-founder, put $50M into the non-profit that makes Signal.) https://www.nytimes.com/... @zingales : .@WhatsApp is forced to delay its announced reduction in privacy https://blog.whatsapp.com/... by a massive migration of customers to @signalapp and @telegram. @DinaSrinivasan was right: competition protects privacy https://papers.ssrn.com/... Sebastiaan de With / @sdw : We, the users, have the power. Facebook knows this, and they're scared. Unethical businesses do not win by default if we work together. https://www.nytimes.com/... @cennydd : Strong sow/reap dynamic here. The changes were nowhere near as bad as people believed, but people's beliefs were strongly shaped by misinformation on Facebook. https://twitter.com/... Dino A. Dai Zovi / @dinodaizovi : “Users don't care about privacy” Oh? https://www.nytimes.com/... Nicole Nguyen / @nicnguyen : WhatsApp is delaying an update to its privacy policy after backlash from some users over how it would share data with Facebook until May. https://www.wsj.com/... @wsjbusiness : WhatsApp is delaying an update to its privacy policy after backlash from some users over how it would share data with Facebook, which owns the popular messaging service. https://www.wsj.com/... Kyle Baker / @kylebaker : Aka let's all freak out 3 months from now https://twitter.com/... Zack Whittaker / @zackwhittaker : This should be construed as nothing short of a catastrophic communications failure by Facebook. It has nobody to blame but itself. https://techcrunch.com/... Rat King / @mikeisaac : here is head of WhatsApp explaining what is and isn't changing, from last week when the controversy was bubbling up https://twitter.com/... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : A surprising reversal, at least to me. I guess now we'll find out how much of the Signal/Telegram growth was related to WhatsApp changes, and how much of it was something else. https://twitter.com/... Joanna Stern / @joannastern : WhatsApp is delaying that update to its privacy policy after the backlash. The company says there's been “a lot of misinformation” about it. Well now. https://www.wsj.com/... Kurt Wagner / @kurtwagner8 : NEW: WhatsApp is delaying its privacy update that confused everyone about what data it collects and what data is shared with FB. Originally you had to accept the new policy by Feb 8, now that's been delayed to May 15 https://blog.whatsapp.com/... Nicole Perlroth / @nicoleperlroth : Apparently Facebook also noticed everyone it knows moving to Signal. https://twitter.com/... Rat King / @mikeisaac : background: people are extremely mad at WhatsApp privacy update and are flooding to other apps like Signal and Telegram as a result now, WhatsApp doing damage control to stem the tide of misinformation *about whatsapp* flooding through its service https://www.nytimes.com/... Shira Ovide / @shiraovide : I will again say: 1) WhatsApp wasn't clear what changed in its privacy practice and what didn't. 2) This wouldn't have happened if people didn't distrust Facebook. A hangover of 4 zillion scandals. 3) What if WhatsApp did the App Store “nutrition label” in its own app? https://twitter.com/... Nick Statt / @nickstatt : New: The WhatsApp privacy policy update that's caused so much confusion around data sharing with Facebook is being pushed back by three months, to May 15th. https://www.theverge.com/...
WhatsApp postpones enforcement and its associated business plans, giving users more time before the policy takes effect and removing the immediate threat of account action.
Signal and Telegram benefit from a window in which privacy concerns are already prompting WhatsApp users to try alternatives.
Second-order effects
WhatsApp must spend more of the rollout on in-app education rather than relying on policy language, as the later banner-based review signals.
Facebook's association with the update becomes a distribution liability for WhatsApp, making clear separation between consumer chats and business-related data practices more important.
Third-order effects
The later retreat from functionality limits suggests large messaging platforms have less practical leverage to force disputed policy consent when users have credible alternative services.
Privacy-policy changes are becoming product and retention decisions, not merely legal updates: clear in-app explanation can determine whether a platform preserves user trust during monetization changes.
The trend: Messaging platforms are tying business monetization to more explicit consent and in-app education as privacy-sensitive users demonstrate a willingness to switch services.
Thank you to everyone who's reached out. We're still working to counter any confusion by communicating directly with @WhatsApp users. No one will have their account suspended or deleted on Feb 8 and we'll be moving back our business plans until after May - https://blog.whatsapp.c…
We, the users, have the power. Facebook knows this, and they're scared. Unethical businesses do not win by default if we work together. https://www.nytimes.com/...
I always wanted a world where privacy would become a competitive advantage. I'm not convinced it will ever be more important than that awesome new feature users want, but if one can build a great competitor that is *also* private, then yeah, maybe that wins. So good. https://twit…
Strong sow/reap dynamic here. The changes were nowhere near as bad as people believed, but people's beliefs were strongly shaped by misinformation on Facebook. https://twitter.com/...
.@WhatsApp is forced to delay its announced reduction in privacy https://blog.whatsapp.com/... by a massive migration of customers to @signalapp and @telegram. @DinaSrinivasan was right: competition protects privacy https://papers.ssrn.com/...
WhatsApp is delaying an update to its privacy policy after backlash from some users over how it would share data with Facebook until May. https://www.wsj.com/...
WhatsApp is delaying an update to its privacy policy after backlash from some users over how it would share data with Facebook, which owns the popular messaging service. https://www.wsj.com/...
This is not what we asked for. Just apply the EU conditions to your users in Turkey and to the rest of the world. Delaying is not correcting the wrong you are going to do. https://twitter.com/...
This should be construed as nothing short of a catastrophic communications failure by Facebook. It has nobody to blame but itself. https://techcrunch.com/...
A surprising reversal, at least to me. I guess now we'll find out how much of the Signal/Telegram growth was related to WhatsApp changes, and how much of it was something else. https://twitter.com/...
WhatsApp is delaying that update to its privacy policy after the backlash. The company says there's been “a lot of misinformation” about it. Well now. https://www.wsj.com/...
NEW: WhatsApp is delaying its privacy update that confused everyone about what data it collects and what data is shared with FB. Originally you had to accept the new policy by Feb 8, now that's been delayed to May 15 https://blog.whatsapp.com/...
background: people are extremely mad at WhatsApp privacy update and are flooding to other apps like Signal and Telegram as a result now, WhatsApp doing damage control to stem the tide of misinformation *about whatsapp* flooding through its service https://www.nytimes.com/...
I will again say: 1) WhatsApp wasn't clear what changed in its privacy practice and what didn't. 2) This wouldn't have happened if people didn't distrust Facebook. A hangover of 4 zillion scandals. 3) What if WhatsApp did the App Store “nutrition label” in its own app? https://tw…
BREAKING: WhatsApp has delayed the roll-out of its new privacy policy for three months, citing “confusion” and “misinformation” about the changes - which have sent worried users flocking to lesser-known apps Signal and Telegram https://www.ft.com/...
New: The WhatsApp privacy policy update that's caused so much confusion around data sharing with Facebook is being pushed back by three months, to May 15th. https://www.theverge.com/...
Regardless of the announced update, what kind of personal information does Whatsapp currently share with FB, according to its website? - account+device info - transaction data - service-related information - information on how you interact with others Basically, all metadata. htt…
ive spent two years researching the minutiae of whatsapp's privacy policies / combing through every page its business-facing code / getting into shouting matches w random engineers over this shit this is the most comprehensive explanation you'll read 💃 https://gizmodo.com/...
This is what they say. I don't trust in what they say, because I don't see GDPR enforcement. Generally, I don't question their e2e encryption for content, even though @swodinsky has written about Whatsapp's “idea of baking a brand-sized loophole” into it: https://gizmodo.com/...
fwiw, it's ironic as hell that a facebook property ended up sparking a massive misinformation campaign *about itself,* whatsapp knows what its policies mean. it knows that even if ppl aren't necessarily mad for the *right* reason, they have ample reason to rage quit the app
Seriously. This is possibly the best article on this #whatsapp situation that could be written! @swodinsky deserves an award or at least an end-to-end encrypted messenger that's worthy. Also to whomever the editor was. https://gizmodo.com/...
A good explanation of how your Whatsapp data with businesses was going to be used. https://gizmodo.com/... TL;DR Don't talk to businesses using WA because adtech companies can use anything in that chat to target you with ads everywhere. Chats with friends still encrypted and OK.
“When an encrypted chat platform that's been widely praised by people in the privacy and security space very rudely announces it'll be sharing your data—any data—with a company like Facebook, you can understand why that would raise some hackles.” https://gizmodo.com/...
So, Facebook lied to users and regulators. According to the lawsuit, FB “took great pains to avoid negative press coverage” in 2016. The Whatsapp founder was told to get not “too much into the weeds on the types of data we're sharing” and instead prepare some “'safe' examples”. h…
@Techmeme @swodinsky Just pushing the deadline by a few months is not going to persuade anybody to stop moving out. @Facebook need to do something different. I think inserting relevant ads (to make money) in the conversations would be okay for many users than totally changing pri…
Here's another more detailed explanation (from @swodinsky) of how Facebook is weakening WhatsApp encryption in order to profit from more data sharing with businesses: https://gizmodo.com/...
This Was WhatsApp's Plan All Along: @swodinsky explains the nitty-gritty details about what the forthcoming WhatsApp privacy policy changes actually mean https://gizmodo.com/... Tip @Techmeme
Hard to overstate how big of a blunder this was from WhatsApp, and the long term damage it could still do to the app's privacy reputation. Seems like Facebook's efforts to monetize it are going to be difficult to pull off without pissing people off.
I want to say that WhatsApp is responding to the backlash, has reflected & will change its data mining policy, but no, this is to allow people to forget & continue using their product. PR this. Facebook has learned nothing, will change nothing. The market will respond accordingly…