WhatsApp laid out fresh terms of use, asking users to agree to let owner Facebook and its subsidiaries collect user data, otherwise, their accounts would be cancelled
Millions of users of have jumped ship to Telegram and Signal in the past week amid fears over their privacy, according to data analytics firm Sensor Tower.
WhatsApp, which uses Signal’s encryption technology, laid out fresh terms on Wednesday, asking users to agree to let owner Facebook Inc and its subsidiaries collect user data. Otherwise, their accounts would be cancelled.
This includes account information like your phone number, logs of how long and how often you use WhatsApp, information about how you interact with other users.
Other data that could be shared are device identifiers, and other device details like IP address, operating system, browser details, battery health information, app version, mobile network, language and time zone.
But privacy activists questioned the “accept our data grab or get out” move on Twitter, and suggested users to switch to apps like Signal and Telegram.
More than 100,000 users installed Signal across the app stores of Apple and Google after the data sharing announcement. It is now the world’s top free app.
Meanwhile, Telegram picked up nearly 2.2 million downloads, according to data analytics firm Sensor Tower.
But new installs of WhatsApp fell 11 per cent in the first seven days of 2021 compared with the week before, although it still amounted to an estimated 10.5 million downloads globally, Sensor Tower said.
Facebook reportedly aims to monetise WhatsApp by allowing businesses to contact their clients via the platform, even sell them products directly using the service as they already do in India.
A spokesperson said, privacy policy and terms updates are common in the industry and we’re providing users with ample notice to review the changes, which go into effect on February 8th. All users need to accept the new terms of service if they want to continue using WhatsApp.
Comments (0)
Average Rating: No ratings yet/5 (0 reviews)
No comments yet. Be the first to comment!