WTF WhatsApp?!
If you didn’t already know. WhatsApp changed their Terms of Service & Privacy Policy. But, what does this mean? And can we try to understand what they’re potentially planning?
Here’s a brief background:
WhatsApp is a Facebook company. They purchased the platform back in 2014 for around $21.8 billion. Facebook also own Instagram, Oculus VR, LiveRail and Threadsy. They have carried out many other acquisitions over the years.
It’s good to know that in the U.K, businesses must declare when they change their policies (both terms of service and privacy). This means when a company changes any policy, users must be notified. The reasons for changing these policies can be vast and varied but, often include; regulation changes, legal protection, collecting data and adding features.
What You Should Know:
Here are some key elements from WhatsApps Privacy Policy that we think you should know. They may debunk any myths but, may also raise some concerns.
- End-End Encryption: This means that your messages are protected against them or third parties from reading them.
- Shared Information: The App will now share information to Facebook that includes; real time status, profile photo and about the groups you participate in.
- Your Messages: WhatsApp do not retain your messages in the ordinary course of providing their services to you. This means your messages are stored on YOUR device and aren’t typically stored in their servers. But, there are some scenarios where they do.
Such As:
- Undelivered Messages: If a message is not delivered immediately (such as someone being offline). They keep it in an encrypted form on their servers for up to 30 days. If the message is still undelivered. They ‘delete’ it.
- Media Forwarding: When a user forwards a media within a message, they store that media temporarily in encrypted form on their servers to aid in ‘more efficient delivery of additional forwards’.
What Can We Now Expect?
WhatsApp is a Facebook company. There is no doubt that the amount of information that Facebook collects from us is very, very large, detailed and specific.
What makes this interesting though, Is that from this policy update. We can start to predict more clearly where Facebook and WhatsApp are heading.
We think Facebook and WhatsApp will go down the WeChat route, enabling in app purchases across all their platforms, assisted by targeted ADs and Stories. Their ’Transactions and Payments Data’ Policy was a recent addition to their policy update and could confirm our speculation.
We also think you should start to look out for:
- FACEBOOK PAY: We’re almost certain that this will come to life. Allowing users to pay for services and purchases via something like ‘Facebook Pay’ on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. They’ll want to join the marketplace with Apple and Google being the current dominant forces on mobile pay devices. And Yes. Expect to be able to make purchases on WhatsApp…
- LIBRA: Not only Facebook Pay. But, we also know that facebook will be launching Libra this year. Their very own cryptocurrency and a new stable coin.
- IN APP ADs/Purchases: Remember when WhasApp use to charge 1p a year? Those were the days…. However, we’ll start to see those ADs popping up in one form or another, in no time.
Other Services?
Personally, at the moment. We won’t stop using WhatsApp. It’ll be interesting to see how these new services and potential features could unfold.
But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use other messaging services. We believe that it’s always good to be contactable and have a range of applications to serve different needs and functions. You can find us on Signal, Telegram and even Mark Cubans, DUST.
As the world becomes more privacy focussed, you’ll also want the person contacting you – to feel comfortable in doing so.
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