Rise of Business Accounts
WhatsApp has already been sharing an array of metadata with Facebook since 2016. So, what exactly has changed in the latest update?
According to WhatsApp, what this means is whether a user communicates with a business’ WhatsApp account ‘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’.
Chats Encrypted But What About Metadata?
Metadata refers to data that describes and gives information about other data and includes information like IP address, transaction data, which users one chats with, which groups a user is a member of.
While WhatsApp reiterated that its “policy update does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way,” lawyers and activists point towards the expansive metadata collection that has grown as a result of its expanding roles.
“In many cases, metadata by itself can reveal very sensitive…