How private is WhatsApp

 

Explained: How private is WhatsApp, what can Facebook see, and should you look at alternatives?

Written by : NowledgeMatter

Amid continuing concerns over its new privacy policy released a few days ago, WhatsApp on Tuesday had to clarify yet again that the policy changes nothing for those messaging friends and family. It also clarified that in some conditions, business messages — “different than messaging with your family or friends” — can be read by Facebook and could be used for marketing purposes.

The latest clarification brings in what seems like a differentiation between “messages with friends or family” and “messages with a business”. It says the new privacy policy pertains to the latter alone and the former remains unchanged.

What does that mean for someone who uses WhatsApp only to chat with friends and family?

- Neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can “see your private messages or hear your calls”. Personal messages are protected by end-to-end encryption and will continue to be so.

- WhatsApp does not keep logs of who anyone is messaging or calling, because it considers a data dump of this kind a “privacy and security risk”.

-  WhatsApp cannot see a location you have shared with a friend as that too is protected by end-to-end encryption.

- WhatsApp does not share a user’s contacts with Facebook, or any other app.

- No data from groups will be shared with Facebook for ad purposes and all the communication within is end-to-end encrypted. So, if you are a member of an office, RWA or school group, there is nothing to worry as nothing changes for you.

How are business messages different?

The interplay between WhatsApp and Facebook, its parent company, becomes more visible when it comes to messages to business, where the new privacy changes have been applied.

WhatsApp has clarified that some “large businesses” might need to use “secure hosting services from Facebook to manage WhatsApp chats with their customers, answer questions, and send helpful information like purchase receipts”.

And “whether you communicate with a business by phone, email, or WhatsApp, it can see what you’re saying and may use that information for its own marketing purposes, which may include advertising on Facebook”. But, WhatsApp says it will “clearly label conversations with businesses that are choosing to use hosting services from Facebook”.

These labels are already visible when you are communicating with a business, and users will now need to decide whether they want to be in a conversation, the details of which could be used to show them targeted ads. Using the Shops features on WhatsApp could also open up your preferences for targeted ads on other Facebook products such as Instagram. So clearly, business messaging, which WhatsApp has been gradually activating across many markets, will ultimately results in advertisements based on preferences you have shown to the business.

If you use WhatsApp for a business and have a list of clients, the business on the other side too will see the conversation and know your preferences. This could be used to show you ads on Facebook platforms. If you are the business owner, you could use some of the insights to run ads targeting your customers on Facebook and other services.