WhatsApp users must now share information with Facebook

WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messenger service, has updated its privacy policy in which users must agree to share their personal data with the social network or lose access.

Why it matters

Users can no longer choose not to share information with Facebook and continue using the app. For Facebook, however, it could signal WhatsApp's utility as a money-maker.

Details

Through an in-app message, users were informed that the service was making some big changes (“how we process your data”, “how we partner with Facebook to offer integrations”) along with the cut-off point for agreement of the 8th February.

It’s a significant shift 

In 2016, Ars Technica points out, users were offered a unique opportunity to opt-out of having their data sent to Facebook. The new privacy policy changes that.

Facebook reserves the right to share collected data – phone numbers, address book contents, profile information and status – with its other companies. These include the eponymous social network and its millennial growth engine, Instagram.

Sourced from WhatsApp, Ars Technica, WARC