The UAE News web report: Short messaging service WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, has changed its privacy policy and asked users to accept it. The UAE News will explain it below:
WhatsApp laid out fresh terms on Wednesday, asking users to agree to let owner Facebook Inc and its subsidiaries collect user data, including their phone number and location.
Some privacy activists questioned the “accept our data grab or get out” move on Twitter, and suggested users to switch to apps like Signal and Telegram.
Signal and Telegram messaging apps are seeing a sudden increase in demand after larger rival WhatsApp’s updated terms of service raised eyebrows on social media.
Signal’s popularity shot up further on Thursday after it was endorsed by Elon Musk, who has one of the most-followed accounts on Twitter, and by the micro-blogging site’s top boss Jack Dorsey.
More than 100,000 users installed Signal across the app stores of Apple and Google in the last two days, while Telegram picked up nearly 2.2 million downloads, according to data analytics firm Sensor Tower.
New installs of WhatsApp fell 11 per cent in the first seven days of 2021 compared with the prior week, but that still amounted to an estimated 10.5 million downloads globally, Sensor Tower said.
UAE telecom authority advisory
The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) on Thursday issued an advisory for users of instant messaging platform WhatsApp.
The Facebook-owned platform has been sending users an in-app notification about its updated terms of service and privacy policy since Tuesday.
Users have until February 8 to accept the changes to policy — or forgo their use of the social media app if they decline.
“The page that currently appears to WhatsApp users is an update on the terms of the Privacy Policy that regulate the operation of the application and must be approved by those who wish to continue using the application,” said a notice posted by the TRA on its social media accounts.
The new policy updates affect WhatsApp’s service and how the company processes users’ data. It also changes how businesses can use Facebook-hosted services to store and manage their WhatsApp chats.
Finally, the company also noted the update would change how it partners with Facebook to offer integrations across the tech giant’s products.
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