WhatsApp, Facebook Inc’s popular messaging service, will start sharing users’ phone numbers with its parent-company, allowing for more relevant advertisements and friend recommendations on the social network.
The change in policy, WhatsApp’s first since the deal with Facebook in 2014, will allow for more relevant advertisements and friend recommendations on Facebook, according to a WhatsApp blog post.
WhatsApp will also explore ways for businesses to send messages using its platform over the next several monthsWhatsApp Blog Post
The company also maintained that messages on the service were encrypted by default and that it would not allow banner advertisements from third parties.
WhatsApp offers full encryption of text, images and even videos ever since their update was rolled out earlier this year.
“Our belief in the value of private communications is unshakeable,” WhatsApp said in the post.
Founder of Whatsapp, Jan Koum had outlined his approach to privacy in a blog post after the deal with Facebook, drawing on his own experiences of growing up in Ukraine during the Soviet era.
WhatsApp, however, sought to reassure users by saying that it would not sell, share, or give users’ phone numbers to advertisers.
The popular messaging platform which has more than 1 billion active users globally, is now seemingly facing the effects of being owned by a fellow social networking giant.
WhatsApp currently offers voice-calling on WiFi/3G, but have been beaten to video calling feature by Google which introduced its Duo app for Android as well as iOS in August 2016.
(With agency inputs.)
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