WhatsApp Scraps May 15 Deadline For Accepting New Privacy Policy

WhatsApp has scrapped the May 15 deadline for users to accept its controversial privacy policy update. If the terms of policy update are not accepted by that date, no user’s account will be deleted.

“No accounts will be deleted on May 15 because of this update and no one in India will lose functionality of WhatsApp either. We will follow up with reminders to people over the next several weeks,” a WhatsApp spokesperson told PTI through email on Friday.

“A majority of users who have received the new terms of service have accepted them,” informed the spokesperson, adding that some people have not done so yet.

The reason behind the decision wasn’t clarified, nor was the number of users who have accepted the terms so far divulged.

WhatsApp had informed its users in January about changes in terms of service and public policy through an in-app notification.

Users were initially given a February 8 deadline to agree to new terms if they wished to continue. But widespread backlash because of concerns over data likely to be shared with its parent company Facebook forced WhatApp to postpone the deadline to May 15.

The Centre and Supreme Court also urged WhatsApp to withdraw the new privacy policy.

“As a reminder, this update does not impact the privacy of personal messages for anyone. Our goal is to provide information about new options we are building that people will have, to message a business on WhatsApp, in the future,” the spokesperson further said, adding that the company spent the last few months working to “clear up confusion and misinformation.”

India is WhatsApp’s biggest market, with about 53 crore users in the country. Many, however, switched to other platforms like Telegram and Signal after WhatsApp announced its revised privacy policy.

Also Read: The WhatsApp Debate: To Surrender Privacy Or Switch App!