WhatsApp users who refuse to accept the new terms and conditions of the Facebook-owned instant messaging app will not be able to send or receive messages after the May 15 deadline.
While the accounts of users who do not agree to WhatsApp’s new privacy policy update will be listed as “inactive”, the California-based company said such accounts will be deleted after 120 days.
“For a short time, you’ll be able to receive calls and notifications, but won’t be able to read or send messages from the app,” said the company on a new FAQ page titled ‘What happens on the effective date?’
The recent list from Whatsapp which shows details of changes that a user could face by not accepting its new terms shows that the popular messaging app is not backing down from the move to share users’ data with its parent company, Facebook.
WhatsApp drew intense backlash earlier this year after updating its privacy policy which talks about sharing data with Facebook. After widespread criticism and debates over privacy concerns, the company pushed the implementation of its new policy to May 15.
WhatsApp users flock to rival message platforms, days after WhatsApp had told its two billion users that they must allow it to share data with its parent company Facebook if they wish to continue using it.
Message platforms like Signal and Telegram have both seen a huge surge in downloads around the world following a controversial update to WhatsApp’s terms and conditions.
Signal was downloaded globally 246,000 times a week before WhatsApp announced the change on 4 January, and 8.8 million times a week after.
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This included big surges in India, where downloads went from 12,000 to 2.7 million, the UK (from 7,400 to 191,000) and the US (63,000 to 1.1 million), as compiled from data by analytics firm, Sensor Tower.
With downloads booming globally from 6.5 million for the week beginning 28 December to 11 million over the following week, Telegram gained more popularity.
In the UK, downloads went from 47,000 to 101,000. And in the US they went from 272,000 to 671,000.
During the same period, WhatsApp’s global downloads shrank from 11.3 million to 9.2 million.
After millions of users downloaded apps from WhatsApp’s competitors following its first announcement in January, the messaging app which has been downloaded 5.6 billion times since its launch in 2014 previously said it had been the victim of “misinformation” around the change.
But WhatsApp now says it has “reflected” on how it could have explained the changes better.
The company denies that the data it shares with its parent company does not include messages, groups or call logs. Instead, it says the new terms focus on changes to allow users to message businesses.
But privacy experts say WhatsApp already shares information with Facebook, such as your IP address and information about users’ phone, as well as purchases made via the platform.
While the Whatsapp data sharing policy does not apply in Europe and the UK, where different privacy laws exist emerging countries like Nigeria, where mobile phone penetration has hit a record high are expected to be largely affected as privacy laws are not yet advanced.
As many Nigerians took to social media to air their views about the recent list from WhatsApp, the hashtag, #WhatsApp topped one of the most trending topics on Nigerian Twitter on Tuesday.
While the new list of things that will happen to WhatsApp users who do not accept the new terms and conditions says users will be allowed to receive and make calls, it also revealed that users who delete the app without accepting the terms after the deadline will be kicked out from all groups, and their chat history and backups will be permanently deleted.
“It is something we cannot reverse,” WhatsApp says.
