All WhatsApp users recently received a notification where the popular messaging app asked to agree with new privacy policies. Most users hit the agree button without even reading the full description. In February 2021, WhatsApp will start sharing personal data with its owner Facebook, which is definitely an end to privacy benefits of the end-to-end encryption messaging app that more than 2 billion smartphone users have on their phone.
The news was so important that the EU started a GDPR investigation about the new policies even though the policies in the EU are different than other countries, especially the US.
Most users will say, “Alright but I didn’t give access to my phone’s location, my contacts and I know how to manage my phone’s settings so that my data are not shared with WhatsApp!” That’s not the point! Look at the image below to see what WhatsApp clearly says about data collection in Apple app store.
So everything is shared with WhatsApp. Of course, if you turn off your contact access, the app won’t have access to your phone’s contacts. But what about your WhatsApp contacts?
We did a test:
I installed WhatsApp on a brand new iPhone 11 Pro. New phone number, new Apple ID. I also installed Instagram and Facebook on the same phone. In about 10 days, I used my phone and WhatsApp to contact some business and shops without even adding them to my contact list. They were neither in my phone nor in my WhatsApp contact list. I usually just made a quick call to the number, then switched to my recent calls, used message button, and choose WhatsApp. In that case a new WhatsApp chat will open with that specific number without having a name and instead of the name, we will see the user’s phone number.
Funny thing is that after few days using my Instagram by not following anyone but just watching regular fitness trainer accounts, Instagram and Facebook started to send me tons of friend suggestions. And guess what? They sent me suggestion to follow the businesses that I called and chatted with on WhatsApp. I never gave WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook any access to my contact and nor my location. But WhatsApp clearly says that it collects your data.
you can see in the picture below where WhatsApp privacy policies page says the way your messages are delivered.
In other words, your messages will be stored in WhatsApp servers until they’re delivered to the recipient. And even a millisecond before the delivery is enough for WhatsApp to use your information and messages, audio messages, media etc. to improve its business.
And yes, WhatsApp is still an end-to-end encrypted messaging app, which means the company won’t be able to peer into the content of your messages. But it doesn’t need to. What’s it’s interested in is your metadata, such as the people you contact with, the time you send messages and you’re online, and the like. This information is a gold mine for targeted marketing.
Therefore, by using WhatsApp, you are helping the tech giant to collect more and more information and use it for its own business goals. Of course, there’s no fact that WhatsApp has ever used personal information against individuals by revealing them or selling them to other companies. This is not the point and WhatsApp does not care about that. What it cares about is much worse. It uses your personal information to lead you, your contact, your group, your community, and families into the business direction that suits Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp more.
This doesn’t mean we must stop using WhatsApp. Some small online businesses absolutely depend on WhatsApp and cannot switch to other apps easily with all their customers in WhatsApp messaging app. But being more considerate and careful in reading the privacy policies will help us manage and control our personal information and data.
Just as a fact, look Signal Private messenger app data collection privacy in the app store and compare it with WhatsApp’s.
EAGLE MEDIA LABS 