This Week WhatsApp has announced in the first place that with its new update it was already possible to send GIFs. Unfortunately, this novelty was just a smokescreen to hide the great novelty of the new version of the most used instant messaging application worldwide.
And it is WhatsApp or what is the same Facebook, the owner of the instant messaging service, has made an update of the terms of its conditions of use. This means that by accepting these new conditions, we will share our information, personal in some cases, with the popular social network. If you want to avoid me, today we will explain how to prevent WhatsApp from sharing our information with Facebook.
What has changed in the terms of use of WhatsApp?
If we take a look at the new terms of use of WhatsApp we find the following message;
Today we update the WhatsApp Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for the first time in four years, as part of our plans to test communication alternatives between users and businesses in the coming months. […] When collaborating with Facebook, we will carry out other activities such as monitoring statistics on the use of our services, or better combat unsolicited messages (spam) on WhatsApp. And by connecting your number to Facebook's systems, Facebook will be able to offer you better suggestions for friends and show you ads that are relevant to you - if you have an account with them.
It seems pretty clear from what we can read that WhatsApp will remain very safe for all users, but our phone number will be shared with Facebook, something that I don't think almost anyone likes.
[…], Once you accept our updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, we will share some information with Facebook and the Facebook family of companies, such as the phone number you verified when you signed up for WhatsApp, as well as the last time you you used our service.
If we continue with the reading, we will realize that not only will the data and our phone number be shared with Facebook, but with other companies in the social network, without ever making known who these companies will be.
[…] Either way, Facebook and the Facebook family of companies will receive and use this information for other purposes. This includes helping to improve infrastructure and delivery systems; understand how our Services or theirs are used; protect systems; and combat infringing activity, abuse or unsolicited messages.
As usual, in this type of communications, they want to imply things that surely are not, among which are the excuse of collecting information to improve systems or solve errors, something that with total security could already be done without this data.
Now that we know what has changed in the terms of use of WhatsApp, no one or almost no one will want to share your private information with Facebook. For all this, we are going to explain to you just below how to prevent the instant messaging application from sharing our information with Facebook.
Prevent WhatsApp from sharing your information with Facebook
At some point in the last few days when accessing WhatsApp, you will have seen the notice of the Terms of Service and the updated Privacy Policy. Most of you will have read it without a doubt on the run and you will have accepted quickly and running to consult the messages that we had without reading.
The problem is that By accepting that notice, we give WhatsApp a free hand to share our information, including our phone number with Facebook, you can use it with great freedom.
In order not to share it, you just have to give the option "Read" in the description, with which you will access another window where the option not to share our data with the social network Facebook will appear. In this way the whole matter should be solved and your information totally safe from the most popular social network in the world.
If you've already accepted, don't worry, you still have time to fix the error. To do this, you must go to the settings menu, where you must access the account submenu and where you will see the option not to share any information about your account with Facebook.
Opinion freely
Honestly, it is very difficult for me to understand the maneuver carried out by Facebook, owner of WhatsApp and that is that they have taken advantage of an update, in which a novelty much requested by users is incorporated, to try to sneak in to many, something that can bring them great benefits as it is to be able to use certain private information.
In my case, If they had asked me in a more appropriate way to share certain types of information, I would not have refused And it is that after all, the two applications already know almost everything about us. In addition and of course they should have explained to me in a clear way with whom they are going to share the information and especially what they are going to use it for.
I feel that Facebook It has not done too well on this occasion and is that the company directed by Mark Zuckerberg wanted to sneak it in a very sneaky way, without giving us too many explanations. We have already warned you and we have told you how to prevent our private data from being shared, so now the decision is up to you, although we do not want to hear a single complaint, if you remain sitting on the sofa without doing anything and soon You see how messages or calls of a strange nature arrive on your mobile device.
Have you allowed WhatsApp to share your private information with the social network Facebook?. Tell us the decision you have made and we explain in the space reserved for the comments of this post or through any of the social networks in which we are present, the reasons that have led you to make the decision to share or not share your private data.