Whatsapp relaxes deadline for accepting its new privacy policy. Whatsapp has made it clear that users will not lose any functionality if they didn’t accept its new functionality on the 15th of May, 2021.
Here is what Whatsapp said in a statement:
“No one will have their accounts deleted or lose functionality of Whatsapp on May 15th because of this update”.
This is different from what the page formerly said when it posted something in February. There it warned that failure to accept its new terms by May deadline will make users lose its functionality.
Here is what the page said:
“We’ve extended the effective date to May 15th”.
Whatsapp said:
“If you haven’t accepted by then, Whatsapp will not delete your account. However, you won’t have the full functionality of Whatsapp until you accept. For a short time, you’ll be able to receive calls and notifications, but won’t is able to read or send messages from the app”.
Whatsapp has Relaxed the Deadline for Accepting its New Functionality
Although, Whatsapp has relaxed the deadline for accepting its new functionality. It is still coming into effect. It will still be effective from the 15tyh of May 2021 for new users. And also for those who have accepted the new policy already.
The only difference is those who fail to accept the policy will not lose the complete functionality easily.
Rather, they will receive a reminder to accept Whatsapp’s latest policy.
This will change after seven weeks when the reminder will be what WhatsApp is calling a “persistent reminder”.
And by this time, the functionality of the app will be limited.
Nevertheless, users will still be able to receive incoming calls and also reply to messages by clicking on notifications. They won’t have access to the standard chat list from inside the app.
Finally, after some weeks, users will not have access to the “limited functionality” completely.
Whatsapp also said in general that it would erase inactive accounts after 120 days.
The Company Spokesperson’s Comment
Here is what the WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement:
“We’ve spent the last several months providing more information about our update to users around the world”.
The person continued:
“In that time, the majority of people who have received it have accepted the update and WhatsApp continues to grow.
However, for those that have not yet had a chance to do so, their accounts will not be deleted or lose functionality on May 15. We’ll continue to provide reminders to those users within Whatsapp in the new weeks to come”.
Whatsapp’s latest privacy policy has encountered serious backlash over worries that it wears out the chat service’s encryption. Or enables it to distribute more of the personal data of users with the parent company.
But the policy does not change the fact that personal messages between users are encrypted. And this means that only each recipient can read them.
It rather relates to messages that are being sent to businesses on WhatsApp.
These may be saved on the servers of Facebook and their data may as well be used for advertising. Already WhatsApp distributes some user data with Facebook like mobile numbers.
Although this information has not really done so much to alleviate the dispute, which led to rival messaging apps like Signal and Telegram reporting surges in new users.
