WhatsApp New Policy Update 2021

Jan 25,2024
2 min read
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WhatsApp an instant messaging app owned by Facebook just rolled out new Privacy Policy update notification globally. People are receiving the notification for the same. The main focus of the notification is that from February 8, 2021, Facebook will collect and share user data with other third party Facebook companies. Currently, people are getting an option to opt-out from the update, but from 8 February there will be no such option, or else what they can do is move to some other messaging platforms such as Telegram etc.

What Data WhatsApp will collect?

With this new update, WhatsApp will collect crucial user data such as location data, IP addresses, phone model, OS, battery level, signal strength, browser, mobile network, ISP, language, time zone, and IMEI. The main problem lies with the collection of IMEI, Mobile Network and IP Address, signal strength, rest are some common statistics that will be harmless to the user if shared (though it should not be shared).

The IMEI is something which should not be shared with any companies without having knowledge about them (company) to the user, and now Facebook will collect this and share the data. IMEI is something that can give the collector each and every data about the user. There’s also the information about how you are messaging, calling, what groups you are attending, the Status, the profile photo, last time you were online, etc. This is something that is not acceptable in terms of Privacy.

Moreover, the WhatsApp will collect Payment related data for Analytical purpose (what they mention) for the purchases made through the APP, mentioned under the section "Transactions and Payments data".

The European Union 27 countries are somewhat lucky due to tight privacy policies (GDPR). The data for these users will not be shared anywhere.