WhatsApp is changing its terms of service to force users to share personal data including phone numbers and locations with its parent company, Facebook.
A WhatsApp representative told Ars Technica the change was to allow businesses to store WhatsApp chats using the Facebook infrastructure.
WhatsApp, the encrypted messaging app that sells itself as a privacy-focused service, will start forcing users to share personal data with Facebook, its parent company.
In an announcement sent to users on Wednesday, WhatsApp said users would have to agree to let Facebook and its subsidiaries collect WhatsApp data including users’ phone numbers, contacts’ phone numbers, locations, and more.
Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014, and in 2016 it gave users a one-time chance to opt-out of sharing app data with Facebook.
For the avoidance of any doubt, it is still the case that WhatsApp does not share European region WhatsApp user data with Facebook for the purpose of Facebook using this data to improve its products or advertisements,” the spokesman said.
Source: https://africa.businessinsider.com/