WhatsApp announced that it is changing its privacy policy last year and since then, a lot of eyebrows have been raised concerning the issue. Although WhatsApp owned by Facebook delayed enforcing the new policy, the company made it known last week that it is ready to go ahead with the new policy update. The company is saying that while it is ready to go on with its new privacy policy, it will at the same time, allow its users to read the new privacy policy at their own pace and will provide a banner that will display additional information.
The banner is set to be displayed as an in-app notification that’ll constantly remind users of the new policy, and whether to accept or reject it. The company has delayed enforcing the new policy because of the controversy that arose when it first announced it, the company has also been using this time to explain to its users what the new privacy policy is all about. The company delayed enforcing the new privacy policy till May 15, and hopes that this would be enough time for users to make up their minds. According to Facebook, it is ‘slowly asking’ users to comply with the new policy in order to experience the full functionality of WhatsApp. The company has also created a new FAQ page.
Here’s what happens when you do not accept/linger in accepting the new privacy policy
Your account will not be deleted immediately rather, you won’t have full functionality of WhatsApp’s features until you accept the privacy policy.
You will not be able to send or even read your messages. You will only be able to receive calls and notifications of new messages.
Once your account gets deleted by WhatsApp, you can never ever get it back! Oops!! If you get to the stage where your account gets deleted, this would be permanent and is not an action that is reversible.
Another scary part of rejecting the new privacy policy is that users lose all their message history, PERMANENTLY. Users will also be taken off all the groups that they belong.
Users who refuse to accept the privacy policy update will lose their entire WhatsApp backup. Now this is getting dire! Good thing is, users have the option to take backup off their account before May 15, that’s if they’re planning to reject.
Facebook is giving users the chance to export their chat history before May 15. Apps like Telegram already allow users to import their WhatsApp chat history in their apps as a way to make the switch to their apps easier.
The policy update also applies to users who have been inactive. This means inactive users can still accept the update when they become active even after May 15. If they become active with the same phone they’ve been using all along, they can have access to information that has been stored locally on their device.
Ibhadojemu Lucky Emmanuel is a graduate of Education and Economics from the University of Benin. He has a passion for tech and business and has been writing professionally for over a period of five years. He's written across various topics and segments and knew tech-business was it when he first stumbled on it. He has a great passion for music and arts, and wants to visit as many countries as he can someday.
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