Yesterday, WhatsApp announced that it has changed its privacy policy and now it will be able to share your information with Facebook. This freaked a few people out as they saw it as an invasion of their privacy. The people who freaked out have every right to do so as not everyone wants companies to share their information and data. Even though Facebook owns WhatsApp, sharing your information with the former isn’t something people are supposed to accept without any questions.
When announcing these changes, WhatsApp said, “People use our app every day to keep in touch with the friends and loved ones who matter to them, and this isn’t changing. But as we announced earlier this year, we want to explore ways for you to communicate with businesses that matter to you too, while still giving you an experience without third-party banner ads and spam.” I totally get what the company is saying here, they do not want to serve users with ads but they have to make business sense and money in some way. Right now their only option is to share your data with platforms under the Facebook family.
Even though the changes have already been implemented with the latest update, the good news is that WhatsApp is not forcing you to accept them, you have the option of now allowing the app to share your information with anyone else.
How to Stop WhatsApp from sharing your Information with Facebook
There are currently two ways to prevent WhatsApp from sharing your information with Facebook.
Option 1
The first option will be to stop WhatsApp from the start. You can do this from the beginning when WhatsApp presents you with the updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy when you open the app for the first time. The company shows these updated terms to everyone who tries to use their service and you will be able to decide if you want to share your information here or not.
When you are presented with the updated terms, tap on Read and you will be presented with the message below.
WhatsApp Sharing info with facebook
If you do not want to share your information with Facebook, uncheck the option and you are good to go, your information will not be shared.
Option 2
If you have already accepted the updated terms without going through step one, you have allowed WhatsApp to share your information but the good news is that you can reverse this process.
Just go to Settings > Account > Share my account info in the app and uncheck the option. You have 30 days to uncheck this option if you have already accepted the terms, after that, you may not be able to stop WhatsApp from sharing your information with Facebook.
Also Read: WhatsApp: Over 100 Million Voice Calls Are Made Through Our Platform Everyday