WhatsApp Postpones Controversial Privacy Policy Update Until May Amid User Flight

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2021) WhatsApp announced on Friday a three-month postponement to its take-or-leave privacy policy update from earlier this month, which was supposed to make all user data accessible for its parent company, Facebook.

The controversial update provided that users who did not accept the new terms and privacy policy would have their accounts suspended on February 8. This prompted a mass exodus from WhatsApp to rival messaging apps.

"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 works 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 messenger said on its blog.

Although the company said "none of that is changing" with regards to the updates, it clarified that the new terms applied chiefly to business accounts on the platform. According to the statement, such data as calls, messages and photos of private users will continue to be respected by WhatsApp and Facebook.

Outgoing US President Donald Trump's expulsion from Twitter and Facebook and WhatsApp's controversial privacy update were only two episodes of a landmark turbulence that global social media went through over the past two weeks.

On Thursday, Telegram founder Pavel Durov said more than 25 million users joined the messaging app in the preceding four days, adding that "we may be witnessing the largest digital migration in human history."