No Advertising
WhatsApp addressed advertising concerns directly during the Facebook buyout saying, “You can continue to use WhatsApp no matter where in the world you are, or what smartphone you’re using. And you can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication.”
Contrast that with the company’s new position: “We want to explore ways for you to communicate with businesses that matter to you too, while still giving you an experience without third-party banner ads and spam.” WhatsApp mentions integrating SMS-based services, such as bank notifications, but it feels awfully close to a push into advertising.
That crosses clearly into advertising territory for Facebook where the analytic data will be used to better target ads. It’s also an ominous step towards eroding privacy because data used for ad targeting can also be used to build profiles—something the government surveillance agencies WhatsApp hopes to protect us from would love to have.
Opting Out
The good news is you can opt out of the new data sharing system. The bad news is you get only 30 days to opt out, and Facebook still gets your analytic data—it just won’t be used for targeted advertising.
Check out The Mac Observer’s tip on how to opt out of the WhatsApp to Facebook data sharing.
The only real way to keep Facebook from harvesting your phone number and analytic data from WhatsApp is to not have a Facebook account. And the only way to be certain Facebook isn’t getting any information about you from WhatsApp is to not use WhatsApp, either.
That seems like a pretty bleak choice for people who need WhatsApp to protect their communications from government surveillance. In some cases, those chats could be embarrassing, but they could also lead to jail or death if you’re a human rights activist in certain countries.
Now people who have been trusting their lives to WhatsApp have to question if their in-app activities really are anonymous and untraceable, so it’s only natural to feel betrayed. Good luck overcoming that trust slam.
Thanks Sean
Downloaded MoneyMail and hooked up with a couple friends already.
Nice to have an alternative
This has been the case with all of Facebook’s acquisitions, why anybody in their right mind trusts them in the first place is the real mystery.
The gig is up, folks. Promises are not promises when they come from FaceBook.
This will be a steady drip – drip – drip until WA is merged in totally.
Most unfortunate. Totally expected.