WhatsApp to soon display banner for more info on controversial privacy policy update

WhatsApp Messenger is soon going to display an in-app-banner, providing users with more information on their controversial privacy policy. It had drawn massive criticism last month over the policy of sharing data with its parent company Facebook. However, the contentious policy, whose rollout date was pushed to May 15 from February 8, has not been changed. 

In a blog post on Friday, WhatsApp said it will display a banner in the app in the coming weeks "providing more information that people can read at their own pace". 

We also think it’s important people know how we can provide WhatsApp for free. Every day, millions of people start a WhatsApp chat with a business because it’s easier to do so than placing a phone call or exchanging emails. We charge businesses to provide customer service on WhatsApp—not people. Some shopping features involve Facebook so that businesses can manage their inventory across apps,” it added in the blog post.

"...but the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy remain the same. As a reminder, this update does not change the privacy of people's personal conversations and does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook," WhatsApp said.

In its blog post, WhatsApp also said it had previously encountered a great deal of "misinformation" about its policy update and that it continues to work on clearing up the confusion. 

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WhatsApp's contentious policy

In January, the infamous WhatsApp Terms and Conditions had said, "As part of the Facebook Companies, WhatsApp receives information from and shares information with the other Facebook Companies. We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings, including the Facebook Company Products." 

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(With Agency Inputs)