How to stop sharing WhatsApp contact list with Facebook?
In a vital decision made by WhatsApp, from now on it will also share all the account details and contact information of users with Facebook. This crucial decision was taken by WhatsApp officials in the month of January, 2016 to share the account details of all the users with its business parent, Facebook. WhatsApp is a instant messaging mobile application that uses internet to send and receive text and multimedia messages among the contacts saved in the phone of a WhatsApp user. However, in 2014, Facebook became the rightful owner of the WhatsApp by making a big ticket deal.
| Sl. No. | Fields | Related information |
| 1 | Encryption system used in WhatsApp | End-to-end encryption |
| 2 | Motive of WhatsApp for sharing account details with Facebook | Marketing strategy, more efficient friend suggestion by Facebook, featuring more relevant ads. |
| 3 | Period given to WhatsApp users to revert changes | 30 days |
| 4 | How to revert back the changes | Account -> Settings |
| 5 | Will Facebook be able to get access to messages of WhatsApp | Not possible. |
| 6 | Details to be shared | Contact lists. |
Why WhatsApp needs to share the account details with Facebook?
As Facebook is the owner of WhatsApp, it is a usual decision to share the account details of WhatsApp users with the social networking giant – Facebook. The Facebook is known for its aggressive marketing skills and revenue generating potential. Hence, WhatsApp also wants to follow the similar path by making some changes in its old privacy policies and terms. But top officials of WhatsApp have made it very clear that the users will not suffer from privacy hamper and will have full control of their accounts. This means the power to share the account details with Facebook will be still in the hands of the WhatsApp users. WhatsApp has made it clear that it would not feature ads on its messaging application. However, the Facebook can use the account information of WhatsApp to become more potent, but with rightful permission granted by end users only.
WhatsApp providing 30 days decision making period to all users
All the users of WhatsApp across the world have already received the important notification which will be served for a period of 30 days. Within this period, they can take the decision of whether their WhatsApp account details and contact list information will be shared to Facebook or not. Only those users who will give positive consent will be linked with Facebook. Otherwise, the traditional WhatsApp will be continuing. In WhatsApp, all the texts and multimedia messages sent and received are encrypted using the end user encryption system. Hence, even if Facebook is given permission to access one’s contact list, it will not be able to have access to the sent and received messages. All WhatsApp users are independent to take their decisions to whether they want to link their WhatsApp account with Facebook or not, but within the period of 30 days. But after the expiry of this period, there will be no such option to revert to earlier settings.
How this will affect the WhatsApp users?
Facebook has cleared the air about the motive behind this decision of get access to the accounts’ of WhatsApp users. By this, Facebook will be able to provide effective friend suggestions. This will also help in providing relevant and user interested ads rather than giving them random ads on Facebook. Another motive is to keep statistics of the usage of WhatsApp by its users. But this will never imply selling of user information to the third parties. Facebook will be continuously working in updating their algorithms to provide better friend suggestions and ads to the users.
Others Article
