Late last month, Whatsapp announced that they would share data and some information with Facebook, their parent company in their first privacy policy update since 2014. This update has sparked controversy among users and some government organizations in the more developed nations.
In this post, I will share with you the consequences of WhatsApp sharing your data, who profits from it and who runs at a loss from it.
Earlier this year, WhatsApp started encrypting messages in an end-to-end mode, this means that not even WhatsApp or a third party can see the messages you send to your friend or contacts, they use a technology produced by Signal to achieve this.
Why is your data and information necessary to facebook?
Facebook acquisition of WhatsApp for 19 billion dollars was not going to be at no cost to the users after all, Facebook has its plans, and this might be their intention for spending that much in acquiring the cross platform messenger. The following are reasons why Facebook needs your data from WhatsApp.
They need to serve you more targeted ads
When your data is shared with Facebook, they–Facebook–will serve you extremely targeted ads because they know what you and your friends talk about. For instance, if you chatted with your friends about selfie sticks on WhatsApp, on getting to Facebook, you’ll be served with ads about selfie sticks and related products. And because you recently thought about it and have the selfie stick issue on mind, you’re more likely to click on the ad.
In fact, Facebook does not require you to click before they make their money, they charge advertisers based on impressions. So once you are served the ad, Facebook gets some bucks. However, this contradicts the previous claim that your messages are end-to-end encrypted, so it remains to be seen if the privacy will further be updated.
Facebook needs to know more about you
Facebook needs to know you even more and better and they claim this will further help them serve you better. Sharing this data will help Facebook know what to expect from a particular region since they know what kind of topics are being discussed in that area.
To show you better friend suggestions
For Facebook to serve you a better and more accurate friend suggestion, they need to get your contact. A friend reported Facebook served him “friends you may know” and included the lady he just spoke to a few minutes ago, this is possible due to the kind of data Facebook gathers and this sharing between Facebook and WhatsApp will further help to customize that experience.
Once any contact is added to your phone and synchronized to your favorites on WhatsApp, Facebook automatically adds the person to your “friends you may know list”, which will further prompt you in adding the person–remember Mark Zuckerberg said he wanted to connect the world, he meant it.
Anti-spam
Although I rarely or never see spam messages on WhatsApp, they still promised this move will help fight spam messages on Whatsapp.
Who loses in this Whatsapp Data sharing?
There is of course a winner and a clear loser in this move, and of course, he who plays the pipe, dictates the tune. Facebook is the clear winner in this and you are the loser. You are simply earning Facebook more money by using these platforms. Well, if you don’t want to make them money, maybe you look for paid services that will not serve ads or quit social media altogether.
Over to you, what do you think about this data sharing, do you think Facebook is infringing on your privacy? Will you favor an alternative or stick with WhatsApp and Facebook? Share with us.
