How to opt out of whatsapp sharing with facebook
How to Opt-out of WhatsApp Data Sharing
By Singyin Lee in Social Media. Updated on .
If you haven’t heard, WhatsApp has renewed its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and along with that update is the announcement that WhatsApp will be sharing some of your WhatsApp account data with Facebook. Here’s what you need to know about this move, and what you can do about it.
20 WhatsApp Tips & Tricks
20 WhatsApp Tips & Tricks
WhatsApp has been getting new awesome features to make messaging a breeze for users. While its use is... Read more
What won’t WhatsApp share with Facebook?
Facebook will be getting the phone number you verified with WhatsApp and track how often you use their services, and the last time you used WhatsApp.
WhatsApp insists that messages, photos and account information will not be made available to Facebook, falling back on their recent move in making messages encrypted end-to-end (provided you update to the latest version) as “proof”.
Note that WhatsApp still insists that they "won’t post or share your WhatsApp number with others, including on Facebook" and "won’t sell, share or give phone numbers to advertisers".
Why does Facebook want my WhatsApp data?
The reason given is because WhatsApp is a part of the Facebook family of companies and that this exercise will allow them to improve the services of both WhatsApp and Facebook. With the data they retrieve, they claim that they can more accurately count unique users, fight spam and abuse.
What’s in it for us? "Better suggestions" and "more relevant ads on Facebook" — as in you’d see an ad from a company you’ve already worked with than one you have not heard before.
Then again, this begs the question: isn’t advertising supposed to be to expose customers to services they have not heard or use before? Well, whatever the reason is, this has to do with Facebook ads.
What you can do:
There are two things you can do, right now: Opt out of this sharing alliance or dump WhatsApp for an alternative messaging app.
1. How do I opt out of WhatsApp sharing my info to Facebook?
It depends on whether or not you have agreed to their updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
If you have not agreed to the new policy:
At the Policy Page, tap Read so that the rest of the policy expands. At the bottom of the screen, there is a box that is already ticked. If you don’t want to share your WhatsApp data with Facebook, untick the box.
If you have agreed to the new policy:
You still have 30 days to opt out of this sharing attempt. Go to Settings > Account > Share my account info, and again, untick the box.
2. Which app should I leave WhatsApp for?
It depends on if you really want to leave WhatsApp’s attempt to perfect mothership Facebook’s ad-targeting strategy. If you do, of all the options out there, Telegram is probably the safe haven you seek.
Like WhatsApp, Telegram:
- Has a desktop app version
- Lets you Mute Notifications in group chat
- Lets you quote dialog and directly reply to that (this works even if a conversation is muted)
- Lets you forward comments
- Has the two check feature, in green, and an approximate last seen.
Unlike WhatsApp, in Telegram
- Group chats can support up to 5000 members. @mention and #hashtags are supported.
- You can share files up to 1.5GB, which can be accessed on both mobile and desktop. The Files are also grouped together to make them easy to search.
- You can use Secret Chats which are self-destructing messages
- You can edit messages that you have already sent.
- Your account will be deleted along with any other data inside your account if you do not use it for more than 6 months.
Telegram already has more than 100 million active users by early 2016. The only question left to ask is are your friends on Telegram as well?
Download Telegram
- For iOS
- For Android
- For Windows Phone
- Telegram Web Version
- Desktop app for OS X
- Telegram Desktop for Windows | Portable Version
- Telegram Desktop for Linux
Click here for more WhatsApp Tips.
WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using the app
Enlarge
Getty Images
WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messenger that claims to have privacy coded into its DNA, is giving its 2 billion plus users an ultimatum: agree to share their personal data with the social network or delete their accounts.
The requirement is being delivered through an in-app alert directing users to agree to sweeping changes in the WhatsApp terms of service. Those who don’t accept the revamped privacy policy by February 8 will no longer be able to use the app.
Enlarge
Share and share alike
Shortly after Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014, its developers built state-of-the-art end-to-end encryption into the messaging app. The move was seen as a victory for privacy advocates because it used the Signal Protocol, an open source encryption scheme whose source code has been reviewed and audited by scores of independent security experts.
In 2016, WhatsApp gave users a one-time ability to opt out of having account data turned over to Facebook. Now, an updated privacy policy is changing that. Come next month, users will no longer have that choice. Some of the data that WhatsApp collects includes:
- User phone numbers
- Other people’s phone numbers stored in address books
- Profile names
- Profile pictures and
- Status message including when a user was last online
- Diagnostic data collected from app logs
Under the new terms, Facebook reserves the right to share collected data with its family of companies.
Advertisement“As part of the Facebook family of companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, this family of companies,” the new privacy policy states. “We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings.”
In some cases, such as when someone uses WhatsApp to interact with third-party businesses, Facebook may also share information with those outside entities.
A lack of transparency
The move comes a month after Apple started requiring iOS app makers, including WhatsApp, to detail the information they collect from users. WhatsApp, according to the App Store, reserves the right to collect:
- Purchases
- Financial information
- Location
- Contacts
- User content
- Identifiers
- Usage data and
- Diagnostics
A WhatsApp spokeswoman declined to speak on the record about the changes and precisely how or if it’s possible for users to opt out of them. She agreed to email additional information on the condition it be kept on background, meaning none of the details can be quoted verbatim.
The move, the spokeswoman said, is part of a previously disclosed move to allow businesses to store and manage WhatsApp chats using Facebook's infrastructure. Users won't have to use WhatsApp to interact with the businesses and have the option of blocking the businesses. She said there will be no change in how WhatsApp shares provides data with Facebook for non-business chats and account data.
Together, the WhatsApp privacy policy and terms of service are more than 8,000 words long and are filled with legal jargon that makes it difficult for non-lawyers to understand. WhatsApp is doing its users a disservice by not agreeing to speak on the record so that reporters can fully understand the changes and explain them to readers.
People who object to the new terms and policy should consider using a different messenger. The Signal messenger provides the same robust encryption engine with a much more transparent privacy policy and terms of service. (Those documents are half the length of those from WhatsApp, too. ) Besides providing encrypted chats, Signal also offers encrypted audio and video calls.
Post updated to add details in the third-to-last paragraph.
How to opt out of WhatsApp data sharing with Facebook
- 2019
WhatsApp, the messaging client used by over a billion people, just announced that it will start sharing some user data with Facebook, the company that acquired it back in 2014. According to WhatsApp, this change is being made so users can be targeted with ads and companies can fight abuse and spam. While fighting abuse and spam is incredibly important, most users will never be okay with WhatsApp sharing their information with Facebook.
While it is not possible to completely avoid this sharing between WhatsApp and Facebook, there is a way to partially opt out of this sharing policy. Please note that this is only a partial waiver, it is absolutely impossible to fully waive. Partial disabling will only disable Facebook ad targeting. The only way to quit completely is to stop using WhatsApp completely, which is not for everyone. In this article, I will tell you how you can (partially) opt out of sharing your data between WhatsApp and Facebook.
Opt Out of WhatsApp Data Sharing: T&C Page
When you open WhatsApp, you will be prompted to "Accept" their updated Terms and Conditions. This is one page that no one usually reads, unless she's paranoid. However, here's what you need to do to prevent WhatsApp from sharing some of your data with Facebook:
- When you see the screen to accept the updated Terms, don't just click Agree , instead click on disclosure arrow in the lower right corner of the screen.
- At the bottom of the screen you will see a flag with accompanying text. Deselect this checkbox if you wish to opt out of the exchange of data, and then click Agree.
Although WhatsApp states that "Your chats and phone number not will be transferred to to Facebook regardless of this setting", this may mean that chats and phone number can be transferred on Facebook. The wording of proposals is of great importance in legal matters. Also, hints are gradually spreading to everyone, so you should see it sooner or later.
Opt Out of WhatsApp Data Sharing: The Second Way
If you received the update in a hurry and clicked "Agree" when the Terms and Conditions page appeared, I don't blame you. At least that's what most people do. However, don't worry, there is still a way you can opt out of the WhatsApp data sharing policy.
Note . The option to opt out of using this method will only be available for 30 days after you first accept the updated Terms and Conditions.
- In WhatsApp, tap on the 3-dot menu button to open the overflow menu and tap Settings.
- Click on Account. In your account settings, you can uncheck the box Share my account information ".
WhatsApp Data Sharing Policy Waiver: Understand Security and Privacy
If there's anything we can take away from this sudden WhatsApp policy change, it's that these days, no data you share with third parties will never be under your control. As one saying goes: “If it's free, it's not a product; you. ”, and this is especially true for services like WhatsApp, which now allow businesses to contact users. I'm not really against ads, but giving businesses access to messages for consumers is something I hated about texting, and probably will hate on WhatsApp too. There is absolutely no reason why we should receive ads on the platform we use to communicate and communicate with friends and family.
As always, we'd love to hear your feedback on this sweeping change to the WhatsApp Terms and Conditions. Also, if you have anything else to add to our thoughts on WhatsApp, Facebook, and data sharing policies in general, feel free to leave us a note in the comments section below.
How to stop Facebook from using WhatsApp data
Content:
- How will sharing data via WhatsApp-Facebook affect you?
- Turn off WhatsApp-Facebook data sharing
- But I have already updated and agreed to the new terms
- What else can I do to stay safe?
A few months ago we added a friend on WhatsApp and were surprised to see their profile in the "People You May Know" section of our Facebook page. So the possibility of sharing data with Facebook through WhatsApp came to our mind.
So we weren't taken aback when WhatsApp recently confirmed on its blog that it does indeed share data with Facebook. Here is the "pick up" key from WhatsApp's official announcement:
How will sharing data via WhatsApp-Facebook affect you?
While WhatsApp has repeatedly stated that it does NOT share content hosted on WhatsApp with any third party, you might wonder why in the world Facebook would pay a staggering $19 billion to acquire it; this also applies to a service that generates less than one dollar per year per customer. There must be some catch, right?
To be honest, we don't know. But what any wise person should take away from this whole affair is that it's always worth going the extra mile to ensure your own data is secure. What for? Well, here are a few questions we need to ask ourselves:
- Facebook - Since WhatsApp has become Facebook's backdoor to the multiverse of communication, how can Facebook benefit from having access to more customer information, which can lead to a better understanding of the customer to improve their experience?
- Marketers - As WhatsApp announced in January that it plans to integrate with businesses and give them access to user data, could this mean we should expect SPAM on WhatsApp now?
- Governments - With the help of the NSA hack and the noise it has created around the world, can we really trust the Machiavellian regimes and secret intelligence agencies that we now know monitor every online activity and telecommunications?
Disable WhatsApp-Facebook Data Sharing
If you don't have the latest version of WhatsApp, please go to the Google Play Store and update now. Once the update has been installed, you will receive a message detailing the updated terms (as shown in this picture).
All you have to do is press " Read " and then just scroll to the bottom. At the bottom of the page, there is a checkbox with the message "Share my WhatsApp account information with Facebook to improve the quality of Facebook ads and products". Uncheck the checkbox to opt out of Facebook-WhatsApp data sharing.
But I have already updated and agreed to the new terms
If you have already updated WhatsApp and also agreed to the updated terms, here is how to turn off Facebook-WhatsApp data sharing:
1. Click on the three white dots in the upper right corner of the smartphone screen and click " Settings "
2. Now click " Account Settings ".
3. On the account settings page, uncheck " Share my account information ".
What else can I do to stay safe?
If you are connected to public Wi-Fi to use WhatsApp and Facebook, you may be vulnerable to hacking and data theft. To ensure that your sensitive information is not compromised, simply use Ivacy VPN to protect your data and remain anonymous.
With Ivacy, you no longer have to worry about hackers and spammers sniffing your phone and accessing sensitive account information and personal data. But that's not all Ivacy does. Here are just a few of the many benefits you can enjoy with Ivacy!
Subscribing to Ivacy is as easy as ABC! Just follow these simple steps:
- Sign up for an Ivacy VPN account with your username and password
- Download and install the Ivacy VPN app on your desired platform or system (Windows, Android, iOS, Mac, Linux, etc.)
- From the smart target selection tool, you must select the server location from which you want to access the server.