WhatsApp stresses privacy as users flock to rivals

Updated33 min agoPublishedJan 13, 2021, 9:36 am SGT SINGAPORE – Messaging giant WhatsApp reassured its users on Tuesday (Jan 12) that it was still respecting their privacy, in the wake of terms and policy changes announced last week that drove many people globally, including in Singapore, to turn to rival chat apps. The changes allow some WhatsApp data to be shared with parent company Facebook. On Tuesday, Facebook executives like Instagram chief Adam Mosseri tweeted that “there is a lot of misinformation about the WhatsApp (terms of service)” and that the policy update “does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way”. The changes are related to messaging a business on WhatsApp, which is optional, he added. WhatsApp stressed that neither it nor Facebook can read users WhatsApp chats nor hear their calls because they are encrypted. This also applies to chats consumers have with businesses over WhatsApp. Some companies can choose to securely store the messages on Facebook’s servers to help them manage the chats. WhatsApp assured that Facebook will not automatically use consumers’ chats with merchants to determine the advertisements these people see. But a company can use the data for its…
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