WhatsApp will halt the rollout of its controversial new update amid global criticism and protests from users, UK-based Independent has reported.
People will now have three extra months to agree to its new rules, the company said.
Users had originally been told they had to agree to the new rules by February 8, or face having their accounts suspended or deleted.
WhatsApp’s privacy policy began being pushed out to users in recent months and caused concern that it would be sharing more information with Facebook.
The company says that the new policy does not “expand our ability to share data with Facebook”, and that it is instead focused on its new business updates, which allow companies to host their shops on Facebook and communicate with users through WhatsApp. As such, the new rules do mention Facebook but primarily because communications with those businesses may be hosted on its servers.
But that has nonetheless led to a flurry of concerns that information and personal data from WhatsApp is being shared with Facebook.
That in turn has meant that users have rushed to competing apps such as Signal and Telegram, in pursuit of what they perceive to be better security and privacy.
In its announcement, WhatsApp suggested that those concerns were rooted in “confusion” and “misinformation”.
“WhatsApp was built on a simple idea: what you share with your friends and family stays between you. This means we will always protect your personal conversations with end-to-end encryption, so that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see these private messages. It’s why we don’t keep logs of who everyone’s messaging or calling. We also can’t see your shared location and we don’t share your contacts with Facebook.”
