WhatsApp really wants to stop you from moving to a competitor chat service over its new privacy policy which is controversial. The Verge has pointed out that WhatsApp is now using Status messages also known as stories to emphasize its “commitment to your privacy” in the US and UK. Even though a campaign like this has been running in India for a while, now it’s now targeting a much wider global audience. A spokesperson said the company will continue to use these statuses in their journey ahead as they feel that misinformation has been transpired and there is confusion all across the world about their updated privacy policies.
On last Wednesday, WhatsApp set four status posts from a contact named ‘WhatsApp’. The messaging app tried to eliminate your concerns about user privacy while assuring users of the safety of the platform after its latest update. “One thing that isn’t new is our commitment to privacy. WhatsApp can’t read or listen to your personal conversations as they are end-to-end encrypted.” Even though the status disappeared after a few hours, screenshots of it went viral on social media with many users showing their confusion and disapproval on Twitter.
Many people took the updated language in the policy to assume WhatsApp would share messages and other content with Facebook. The service stated that it couldn’t read messages and was just clarifying existing methods. Nevertheless, the damage has done. Millions of users are upset about this and quit WhatsApp to start using chat apps like Signal and Telegram.
WhatsApp can prevent future disturbances by talking directly to users this way instead of making statements and leading users to FAQs. The very need to interact through Statuses shows the poor reputation of Facebook when it comes to privacy.
Also Read: WhatsApp Criticizes Apple’s Privacy Labels
