Amid growing concerns over its privacy policy, popular messaging app WhatsApp on Friday (January 15) announced that it has decided to postpone the planned privacy update. Whatsapp said that the postponement of the privacy update will give users more time to review the policy and accept its terms and conditions. It is to to be noted that Whatsapp is owned by tech giant FAcebook.
According to Whatsapp, the decision to postpone the privacy update has been taken due to "misinformation causing concern" among people.
"We`re now moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms. No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8. We`re also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security work on WhatsApp. We`ll then go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15," the blog post read.
The New York Times reported that ever since Whatsapp announced the privacy update, the notification was interpreted by many users of messaging app as a crucial shift in its data-sharing practices. Several users raised concerns that Whatsapp could now read their personal chats and access other personal data too.
The growing concerns over privacy forced many Whatsapp users to switch to other messaging services such as Signal and Telegram. The NYT reported that Signal became the No. 1 app in India this week. Notably, India is one of the biggest markets of WhatsApp.
In an apparent effort to reassure people on privacy concerns, Whatsapp said, "the update includes new options people will have to message a business on WhatsApp, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data. While not everyone shops with a business on WhatsApp today, we think that more people will choose to do so in the future and its important people are aware of these services. This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook."
