WhatsApp has taken a U-Turn on its own claims following the worldwide disapproval of its new privacy policy. The company announced that it will limit the functionality of its App for users who fail to accept the new privacy policy but the social media application doesn’t plan on doing that anymore.
In a statement to ‘The Verge’, a WhatsApp spokesperson said, “Given recent discussions with various authorities and privacy experts, we want to make clear that we will not limit the functionality of how WhatsApp works for those who have not yet accepted the update”.
The new privacy policy that allows WhatsApp to share with Facebook a user’s chat with a business account, was supposed to go live on 8th February 2021 but is getting delayed since then. The policy has now been delayed indefinitely while the app will continue to remind those who haven’t yet accepted the policy.
WhatsApp says the majority of users who have seen the new policy have accepted it. “We will continue to remind users from time to time and let them accept the update, including when they choose to use relevant optional features like communicating with a business that is receiving support from Facebook,” WhatsApp said. “We hope this approach reinforces the choice that all users have whether or not they want to interact with a business”.
WhatsApp has been in a tussle with the Indian Government over the new policy where it has been asked twice by the government to revoke the policy. But the brand remains stringent on its words that a user’s chat with his personal accounts remains unaffected as they are end-to-end encrypted.