WhatsApp updates privacy policy to get ready for new features
WhatsApp has updated its European privacy policy to make way for new features.
The updates include new parts of the policy for new updates such as its Communities service, details of how it will interact with wearables such as Facebook’s Ray-Ban glasses, and avatars.
A previous update to WhatsApp’s privacy policy was incredibly controversial, and led to reports that it was providing private information to parent company Meta. The outcry was such that WhatsApp was forced to delay its release by months, in early 2021.
Throughout, WhatsApp insisted that those stories were misleading, and that it would not be providing data to Meta. But it admitted that it had failed to communicate the details of the policy properly to users.
It said this time that the updates were intended only to make way for new features and would not lead to any alterations in the way WhatsApp works.
“We’re looking forward to bringing new features to WhatsApp this year and are giving people in the European region more information about how they work in a privacy-protective way,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said.
“These features do not change the way we operate the WhatsApp service, including how we protect your personal information, wherever you are in the world.”
The new changes predominantly relate to four features: the new Communities tool, wearables, avatars and business on WhatsApp.
The company stressed that those features are mostly optional: users can avoid turning them on or joining communities if they wish.
At the top of the updates, WhatsApp stressed that end-to-end encryption means that conversations cannot be read or listened to by anyone but their sender or recipient. “This will never change,” it says.
WhatsApp provides its European privacy policy online, where it can be compared with other versions.
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