A little more than two years ago, after Facebook bought the messaging startup for a cool $19 billion,
WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum stressed that “nothing would change” regarding
his company’s well-regarded privacy policy and its handling of user
data. “There would have been no partnership between our two companies if
we had to compromise on the core principles that will always define our
company, our vision and our product,” Koum said.
Times change.
WhatsApp said on Thursday morning
that it will now share with Facebook the phone numbers of its users in
an effort “to improve your Facebook ads and products experiences.” So
far, this “improved experience” primarily appears to mean giving
businesses the ability to contact you via WhatsApp: banks will be able
to message you when they detect fraudulent activity on your account, and
airlines will be able to alert you when your flight is delayed.
WhatsApp noted that it expects to begin testing these features within
the next few months.
And what happens if you, the average WhatsApp
user, want nothing to do with these “improved experiences”? For now, at
least, WhatsApp is giving you the ability to opt-out of this whole
rigmarole.
There’s two ways to go about this.
This first applies before you accept WhatsApp’s newly updated terms and
conditions. At the bottom of the terms and conditions screen is a small
note that says “Read more about the key updates to our terms and privacy
policy.” Tap this, then uncheck the checkbox. Congrats, you’ve opted out!
The second method applies if you already accepted the new terms and
conditions without having first opted-out. People in this position have 30 days after
accepting the new terms to go to Settings - Account - Share my account
info from inside the app. At the bottom of this screen is a checkbox
that must be unchecked to opt-out of the scheme.
Of
course, in the unlikely event that you don’t have a Facebook account,
the updated terms of service don’t change a whole lot for you since
WhatsApp is sharing your phone number with Facebook and not the
individual companies themselves.
