The update of the data protection guidelines at WhatsApp has been causing unrest among users for months. Contradicting statements about an extended data exchange with Facebook have led to millions of users switching to competitors such as Signal and Telegram. Now the group seems to finally give in: Even without approval of the new guidelines, the messenger service should continue to be usable without restrictions.
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Facebook: „Keep users happy“
In addition to user protests, discussions with data protection authorities and governments have apparently also had an effect. This emerges from an official statement by the Facebook group, which the US technology portal “The Verge” has published. In it, the WhatsApp mother explains that there are currently no more plans to make the functionality of the service dependent on approval of the guidelines. Anyone who has not given their consent to date will only receive a reminder at certain time intervals. The company does not want to promise that they will stick to this practice in the long term. At the moment, however, the top priority is to make users and governments around the world “happy”.
Social media allegations
The background to this statement is the criticism that WhatsApp and Facebook are currently receiving from various national authorities. The Indian government is complaining about a violation of its data protection laws. Turkish President Erdoğan has also been raising the mood against the new guidelines for months. For Germany, on the other hand, the Hamburg data protection officer Johannes Caspar initiated an urgency procedure in mid-April and prohibited the transfer of user data to Facebook. WhatsApp had spoken of “misunderstandings” at the time. Even today, the group emphasizes that the originally planned innovations do not violate national law. Nevertheless, the decision has apparently been made not to enforce the rules against global pressure.
Churn of users
At the beginning of the year, WhatsApp tried to present the data protection update as having no alternative: Those who do not agree will irretrievably lose their account on February 8th. But instead of ticking the box without further consideration, as usual, users spoke of blackmail and opened accounts with other messengers in droves. WhatsApp then postponed the deadline by three months. Instead of deleting the account, the threat was only limited functionality. The statement that has now been published seems to prove that the group will bow to public pressure for the time being.
Conclusion
Anyone who has already consented to the new data protection guidelines will be retained. All others, however, can continue to ignore the more or less frequently popping reminder windows. There are no consequences for the functionality of the messenger for the time being.
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