Popular messaging app WhatsApp on Thursday asked its nearly two billion users to agree to new terms that will allow it to share more information with parent company Facebook and expand advertising and e-commerce.
The update has drawn criticism from users, as they must accept the changes or see their access to the service – which also allows encrypted voice and video calls – cut off from February 8.
Facebook aims to monetize WhatsApp by allowing businesses to contact their customers through the platform, or even sell products to them directly using the service as they already do in India.
“Updates to the Privacy Policy and Terms are common
In the industry and we are providing users with ample Finland WhatsApp Number List notice to review the changes, which will go into effect on February 8,” a Facebook spokesperson said. All users must accept the new terms of use if they wish to continue using WhatsApp,” the spokesperson added.
The company said the updated terms would allow additional sharing of information between WhatsApp and Facebook and its other apps like Instagram and Messenger, such as contacts and profile data, but not the content of messages which remain encrypted.
In the EU and Britain, the new terms only allow the development of features for professional users of WhatsApp Business, a company spokesperson told AFP.
Users’ lawyers warned that the update was not legal.
“If the only way to refuse (the change) is to stop using WhatsApp Number Database WhatsApp, consent is forced because the use of personal data is illegal,” said Arthur Messaud, lawyer for La Quadrature du net, an association that defends Internet users. Facebook is under increasing pressure from regulators as it tries to integrate its services.
The EU has fined the US social media giant €110 Bulk Database million (later $120 million) for providing incorrect and misleading information about its 2014 takeover of WhatsApp regarding the ability to link accounts between the services.
Federal and state regulators in the United States have accused Facebook of using its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram to stifle competition and filed antitrust lawsuits last month in an attempt to force the company to divest them.
