When WhatsApp users showed their concern about the new privacy policy being rolled out, Washington members pickup soccer group decided to switch their communications to rival messaging platform Signal, ditching the Facebook-owned service.
One of the players stated that the move was to switch as many users away from the Facebook empire, which for his liking, became way too big and powerful.
The flap over Whatsapp’s privacy policy responded by Facebook as a misinterpretation about efforts to bring business onto the platform threatens to erode trust in the service, which is increasingly important to the leading social network’s future.
California’s giant delayed implementation of a new policy last month said it could expand data collection from two billion WhatsApp users worldwide.
The update shows how merchants using WhatsApp to chat with users can share with Facebook, which could use the content for targeted ads, according to the social network. According to the company, the policy will be reviewed and won’t be implemented before 15 May.
Ryan Calo, the privacy researcher with the University of Washington’s Tech Policy Lab, said that even though many people misunderstood the new policy, the backlash is understandable.
Calo also mentioned that the original was purchasing WhatsApp and folding it into the business model of Facebook, which monetizes all the data they have.
The new changes are not as dystopian as some users are thinking. But it is shifting to a model that many people don’t trust.
Whatsapp was acquired in 2014 for some $19 billion. The biggest sale of a venture-backed firm is faced as a strategic asset for Facebook as it saw. The slowing growth for its core social network and looks to expand its offering for connecting customers and businesses.
