WhatsApp’s New Privacy Policy Will Take Effect From Next Week, Here’s All You Need To Know

At the beginning of this year, WhatsApp announced that a new privacy policy that let all hell loose. The new privacy policy was not received warmly and has faced huge criticisms. WhatsApp should have already implemented this privacy policy update but kept postponing the date till it was finally decided that the privacy policy update would take effect this month on the 15^th which is about a week away.

For users to continue enjoying the services of the instant messaging platform, WhatsApp has made it compulsory that the new privacy policy update must be accepted by users. WhatsApp has been using the past few months to explain and make users see the benefits that the new privacy policy update will bring and how it will benefit everyone.

The huge criticisms faced by WhatsApp have led to the rise of other instant messaging apps like Telegram, Signal, and India’s government-owned Sandes. Telegram which had never made it to the list of top ten most downloaded non-gaming apps became the most downloaded non-gaming app in the month of January. In March, Abu Dhabi Funds invested $150 million in Telegram after seeing the app grow astronomically after WhatsApp’s privacy policy update brought other instant messaging apps to the forefront.

The new WhatsApp policy will take effect on the 15^th next week. For users that accept the new privacy policy update, they continue to enjoy WhatsApp’s services with no issues. For users that refuse to accept the new privacy policy, here’s what will happen to their accounts. Their accounts will not be deleted immediately rather, they won’t have full functionality of WhatsApp’s features until they accept the privacy policy. They will not be able to send or even read messages; they will only be able to receive calls and notifications of new messages. Once a user’s account gets deleted by WhatsApp, they can never ever get it back! If users get to the point where their accounts get deleted, this would be permanent and is not an action that is reversible. Users who reject the new privacy policy will lose all their message history permanently and be taken off all the groups that they belong.

WhatsApp has also made it possible for users who plan to reject the privacy policy update to move their message history. With apps like Telegram and Signal, users can move their message history and not lose anything.