This Article is written by Sanskriti of DSNLU, Vizag
WhatsApp Messenger is an American freeware, software app that provides users with a medium for communicating, making phone conversations, exchanging video calls as well as sharing media files like images, videos, documents, and more. The free accessibility of this application in the phone makes it easy for everyone to use. And that has made it popular in almost every country with its simple way of using the smartphone. WhatsApp is India's one of the largest app with over 400 million users in 2019. This application is commonly used in all industries, whether it is for a personal or official reason, an individual connected to offices, companies, the education sector, and so on.
WhatsApp just revised its Privacy Policies in January 2021, which has raised an issue for the Indian users of this app. New terms, which were used in the privacy policies of this app, have been speculated to be a step towards further incorporation of the app into Facebook, which has been WhatsApp's parent after it was officially purchased by Facebook back in 2014 for $ 22 billion.
Updating its privacy policy is an activity that is practiced by every company at some point in time or other. And we as users, to keep using the app, tend to accept all terms and guidelines mentioned in the policy. No such discrepancy exists as to why the privacy policy of WhatsApp has been revised. And here, we will look at the latest WhatsApp Privacy Policy in this piece.
Before looking into the terms of the new privacy policy, one must be clarified with some misconceptions that WhatsApp can now access all the chats, voice messages, and shared photos, documents, etc. All the chats in the app are end-to-end encrypted, which means when a person sends a message, apart from him and the receiver, no one will have access to those messages. This basically means that no service provider or any third party can know what an individual has written and to whom. WhatsApp itself do not have the access to these chats. And adding to this point, Facebook messenger and Instagram messenger do not provide this end-to-end encryption that makes WhatsApp a better messenger app than these two. And in some sense when we compare WhatsApp privacy commitment towards its user’s chats and messages with Facebook and Instagram messengers, WhatsApp still is in the upper hand. Hence it is not true that user data has suddenly become a lot vulnerable because messages, voice notes, and chats are still encrypted.
Now, let us look at the crucial changes made by WhatsApp in their new privacy policy. Firstly, in the updated version of privacy terms of 2021, the company has explicitly mentioned using and sharing the data of WhatsApp users with Facebook's other companies like Facebook messenger, Instagram, etc. Earlier according to the privacy policy of June 2020, the app provided the users with an option to opt-out from this term of sharing the data with the parent company but now there is no option to avoid this condition.
Secondly, as we already know that the app has no access to the chats or messages of the users. Then what data they will access to share it with Facebook and its other companies. “WhatsApp can get access to all the hardware information, that includes information such as hardware model, operating system information, battery level, signal strength, app version, browser information, mobile network, connection information (including phone number, mobile operator or ISP), language and time zone, IP address, device operations information, and identifiers (including identifiers unique to Facebook Company Products) associated with the same device or account”[i]. And “this is connected with the third update that the end-to-end encryption does not work when any person is chatting with a WhatsApp business account then it will not work.” [ii]When a personal message or chat with a business account on the app, the content the person shares may be visible to several people in that business. This term has been added due to the new function of WhatsApp payment, added last year in India after launching it in other countries. And WhatsApp has now over 50 million business accounts. [iii]So, simply put, if a person is making any kind of payment or shopping through WhatsApp, the data around like payment information or transfer amount, can also be processed by the company and can be shared with Facebook and the third parties of the app.
The point company has stated that the integration of WhatsApp with fakebook’s other companies is just for the smooth functioning of both the applications. The reason given behind this updated policy is – “the data-sharing with Facebook is to ensure better security and to fight with spam so that they can improve user experience, which was there in the previous policy as well” [iv]
So, if we see the overall situation, WhatsApp still does not have access to personal chats or calls, cannot share our contacts with Facebook's other platforms, cannot get access to the shared location, and cannot keep a record of calling logs. But now can get access to all the other hardware information and can share it with Facebook and with its third parties.
Currently, the government of India has restricted the company to implement this privacy policy and has asked to review it in certain aspects. Many users have also deleted their accounts on WhatsApp and are switching to other platforms like Telegram and Signal.
In regions such as in the EU, where data security regulation has rigorous laws and limits on the processing of the consumer data by collecting and sharing it. Therefore, the data transfers from WhatsApp to Facebook are not feasible there. And, only data necessary for operations of its services, i.e., operating the app, can be obtained and processed by WhatsApp in the EU region. Information cannot be shared with Facebook because WhatsApp messaging program does not need it to operate and function.
The Ministry of Electronics and IT, which sent WhatsApp a series of questions on why Indian users would exchange details with Facebook and has asked reasons about treating Indian users differently as with European users that raised the particular question towards the regional differential treatment done by WhatsApp.
[i]WhatsApp Privacy policy, WHATSAPP, (Feb.10, 2021, 5:12 PM), https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/updates/privacy-policy/?lang=en [ii] Danny Cyril D Cruze, New WhatsApp Privacy plans : Here’s what users should be ware of, MINT, (Feb. 11, 2021, 8:21 PM), https://www.livemint.com/technology/apps/new-whatsapp-privacy-policy-plans-here-s-what-users-should-be-aware-of-11613711213099.html [iii] WhatsApp’s New Privacy Policy: Cruising or Chaos, LEGALDESK, (Feb. 11, 2021), https://legaldesk.com/general/whatsapps-new-privacy-policy-cruising-or-chaos [iv] Shruti Dhapola, what do you need to know about WhatsApp new privacy policy, INDIAN EXPRESS, ( Jan.13, 2021, 6:15 PM), https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-what-you-need-to-know-about-whatsapps-new-privacy-policy-7135730/
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