Ahead of the release of an updated privacy policy that allows Facebook and its companies access to certain levels of users’ data, WhatsApp has again made efforts to explain the move.
The objective of the privacy update, according to WhatsApp is to find new ways to interact with businesses on its platforms. However personal messages remain end-to-end encrypted, which means that WhatsApp cannot read or listen to them.
WhatsApp believes that since it charges the 175 million business accounts on it a fee, it should offer more value.
The first time it had to issue a statement explaining the policy, thousands of users were threatening to leave its platform for competitors like Signal and Telegram. That message was followed with news that it had postponed the update till May.
This time WhatsApp also had a message for its competitor over its security claims. Telegram had jumped on the opportunity created by public anger over the privacy update to urge users to dump the Facebook-owned platform, claiming that it offers more privacy.
Read also: WhatsApp to delay privacy update till May but users still leaving
Telegram falls somewhere in the middle of the privacy scale, and it stands apart from other messenger apps because of its efforts to create a social network-style environment. While it doesn’t collect as much data as WhatsApp, it also doesn’t offer encrypted group calls like WhatsApp, nor as much user data privacy and company transparency as Signal.
“We’ve seen some of our competitors try to get away with claiming they can’t see people’s messages – if an app doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption by default that means they can read your messages. Other apps say they’re better because they know even less information than WhatsApp. We believe people are looking for apps to be both reliable and safe, even if that requires WhatsApp having some limited data,” the company said.
Nonetheless, the Facebook-owned messaging app which was displaced in January by Telegram on most downloaded app lists, suggested it was impacted by a barrage of misinformation that greeted its privacy update announcement. It not only lost the most downloaded app, Telegram’s 75 million new installs came from India, the largest market for WhatsApp.
“We’ve reflected on what we could have done better here. We want everyone to know our history of defending end-to-end encryption and trust we’re committed to protecting people’s privacy and security,” WhatsApp said in a message on Thursday.
In the coming days, the messaging app will share some of its values and updates directly within WhatsApp using its Status feature. Eventually, it will start reminding people to review and accept these updates to keep using WhatsApp.
