South African regulator reviewing new WhatsApp policy changes
- by Claude Bryan
- in Markets
- — Jan 15, 2021
Filed by advocate Chaitanya Rohilla, the petition sought guidelines or directions to ensure that any change in privacy policy by the messaging app is carried out in accordance with the fundamental rights guaranteed in Part-III of the Constitution till such time that rules or guidelines are framed by the Centre. WhatsApp was downloaded by 10.6 million users during the same period, a 17 percent decline.
According to a TOI report, the government is "collecting details" about the matter and looking at the changes that Facebook has introduced to the policy of WhatsApp which would share the data of users with the company.
"I think when people think about their conversations, they want a very simple and straightforward terms of service and privacy policy, Signal gives them that".
"We can't see your private messages or hear your calls, and neither can Facebook", WhatsApp said in a blog post. With some of the rumors going around, we want to answer some of the common questions we have received.
The media campaign - similar to one it ran two years ago when it was facing criticism in India for not doing enough to curb disinformation - underscores the severity of the crisis for the world's most popular messaging platform. Since then, the Facebook-owned company has taken a number of steps to curb the spread of hate messages. "I think in the short term, people will have WhatsApp and signal, side by side". He also clarified that the changes will not impact WhatsApp Payments as that has a separate privacy policy governing it.
Under the new terms, Facebook reserves the right to share collected data with its family of companies.
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This kickstarted a spate of conversations as well as memes on the internet over WhatsApp's alleged sharing of user information with Facebook. Many users have also started shifting to rival platforms like Telegram and Signal, and these platforms have seen millions of downloads globally in the immediate aftermath of the event.
Signal is a cross-platform end-to-end encrypted messaging service that allows users to have one-on-one conversations and group chats.
In addition, WhatsApp stated that it cannot keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling, see the shared location and neither can Facebook. We do not share your contacts with Facebook or the other apps Facebook offers....
"Whether you communicate with a business by phone, email, or WhatsApp, it can see what you're saying and may use that information for its marketing purposes, which may include advertising on Facebook".
"This has become all the more important over the a year ago with people needing to conduct commerce remotely", Cathcart said adding that WhatsApp works with Facebook to support millions of micro businesses around India.
More than two billion people in over 180 countries use the app, which is now available as a free download.