Faced with a trust deficit after an update to its privacy policy last week, WhatsApp released a new post on Tuesday explaining the changes to the privacy policy and trying to reassure users that it is not sharing any chats, message or personal call history with Facebook. But when it comes to chats with work accounts, the privacy policy comes with some important updates and in some cases the data can be shared with Facebook.
WhatsApp has tried to clarify how, when interacting with a business account on the platform, the considerations might be a bit different. First, let’s take a look at what the corporate privacy policy says on the platform? This is what the two affected paragraphs look like:
Companies with which you interact using our Services may provide us with information about their interactions with you. We ask each of these companies to act in accordance with applicable law when providing information to us.
When sending a message to a business on WhatsApp, keep in mind that the content you share may be visible to more than one person in that business. Additionally, some businesses may work with third party service providers (which may include Facebook) to help them manage their communications with their customers. For example, a business may give that third-party service provider access to its communications to send, store, read, manage, or otherwise process for the business. To understand how a business treats your information, including how it may share your information with third parties or Facebook, you should review that business’s privacy policy or contact the business directly.
What this means is that texting a business on WhatsApp is not the same as chatting one-on-one with your friends and family. These messages will be visible to many more people in the company and may depend on another company to store, read, or respond to messages. Here’s what the notice will look like when you interact with a business account.
Here’s what the message will look like when you interact with a business account.
Businesses using Facebook hosting services
Some companies may use “hosting services†from Facebook itself to manage communications on WhatsApp. These hosting services are used to manage discussions with customers, “answer questions and send useful information such as purchase receipts”. When you talk to a business on WhatsApp, they see what you are saying and might store those chats for internal review.
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For example, if you purchase a product from the xyz website and the order alerts also appear on WhatsApp with delivery details etc. and the business uses Facebook’s hosting services, the data may be shared with the social network. WhatsApp also says information shared on corporate chats could later be used by the company for “its own marketing purposes, which may include advertising on Facebook.”
So you could tell a business about buying something from them, and later you might see an ad for the same thing on Facebook. Whatsapp says yes “Clearly label conversations with businesses that choose to use Facebook’s hosting services. “
More e-commerce features
WhatsApp now offers features such as stores, where businesses can display their products directly in the app. It is a Facebook branded product and it started rolling out to the platform in December 2020.
WhatsApp specifies that if you “Choose to interact with stores, your shopping activity can be used to personalize your experience in the stores and the ads you see on Facebook and Instagram.” It will inform users of how their data is shared with Facebook if they choose to use the stores on the platform.
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The Stores functionality is not enabled on all business accounts. Some are simple business accounts without the ability to purchase products directly from the messaging application. But as more and more businesses rely on WhatsApp to conduct their business, they will likely use such features.
Find a business
WhatsApp also states that users “can see an advertisement on Facebook with a button to send a message to a business using WhatsApp.” If WhatsApp is installed on his phone, he will be able to send a message to that company. Yes you interact with these ads, “Facebook may use this information to personalize the ads you see on the social network.”
So, how do you avoid work accounts on WhatsApp?
If you don’t want to talk to any business account on WhatsApp, you always have the option to block it directly in the app. Also, when you order products from websites, some may ask you if you want to get updates on WhatsApp. You can choose to say no to the option. For example, sites like MakeMyTrip, Nykaa, etc. send updates on flights or orders on WhatsApp. You can choose to say no to this particular option.
