You probably heard or might have over-heard of the new terms and conditions coming with using WhatsApp. There have been several concerns in regards to privacy and data sharing when you accept these terms. There was also backlash as to how much data was to be shared with the parent company, Facebook. However, the biggest question has always been: what happens if one does not abide by these new terms?
Well, at least from what BBC reports, if you do not accept the updated terms and conditions by the May 15 deadline, you will be unable to receive or send messages. And this is until you do so. Interestingly, your account will be listed as “inactive”. Do we need to remind you that inactive accounts can be deleted after 120 days?
TechCrunch reports that calls and notifications will still function for “a short while” but probably for only a “few weeks”.
WhatsApp announced the update in January and still insists the app respects user privacy. It has also recently clarified this was not the case – the update is actually aimed at enabling payments to be made to businesses.
We’ve reflected on what we could have done better here. We want everyone to know our history of defending end-to-end encryption and trust we’re committed to protecting people’s privacy and security. We’re now using our Status feature to share our values and updates directly within WhatsApp. We’ll be doing much more to make our voice clear going forward.
In the coming weeks, we’ll display a banner in WhatsApp providing more information that people can read at their own pace. We’ve also included more information to try and address concerns we’re hearing. Eventually, we’ll start reminding people to review and accept these updates to keep using WhatsApp.
