In 2019, it became a concern world over including in India, when it came to light that hackers were able to use the application to spy on targeted users using the spyware ‘Pegasus’. This isn’t the first time WhatsApp is facing privacy concerns. But the latest update has one significant difference. To be clear, WhatsApp’s policy has always said it shares information with Facebook. That update sparked a backlash from users who switched to rival services like Telegram and Signal, an investigation by Turkey’s competition watchdog, a temporary German ban on gathering data, and a complaint by EU consumer groups.Ī six-hour outage of Facebook services last month highlighted how vital WhatsApp has become for its more than two billion users worldwide.The news has raised concerns about user privacy and how much data Facebook will be able to access, given that the app now supports financial transactions and e-commerce. WhatsApp was embroiled in a separate privacy controversy earlier this year when it botched a different update to its privacy policy that raised concerns users were being forced to agree to share more of their data with Facebook. Ireland’s Data Privacy Commission is the lead privacy regulator for WhatsApp under European Union rules because its regional headquarters is in Dublin. The update doesn’t affect how data is handled, and users won’t have to agree to anything new or take any other action. The chat service said it disagreed with the decision, but it has to comply by updating its policy while it appeals. WhatsApp is taking the action after getting hit with a record €225mil (RM1.06bil) fine in September from Ireland’s data privacy watchdog for violating stringent European Union data protection rules on transparency about sharing people’s data with other Facebook companies.
With the update, users in Europe will see a banner notification at the top of their chat list that will take them to the new information. WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, now renamed Meta Platforms. The company said it’s also explaining in more detail how it protects data shared across borders for its global service and the legal foundations for processing the data.
Starting Nov 22, WhatsApp’s privacy policy will be reorganised to provide more information on the data it collects and how it’s used. LONDON: WhatsApp is adding more details to its privacy policy and flagging that information for European users, after Irish regulators slapped the chat service with a record fine for breaching strict EU data privacy rules.
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