WhatsApp postpones new terms due to ‘confusion and misinformation’

WhatsApp has delayed the introduction of its new terms of use for three months due to “confusion and misinformation” surrounding the topic. WhatsApp will soon share more data with Facebook, but this does not apply in Europe, due to the legislation here.

Users who have not yet accepted the new terms by February 8, the original deadline, will not be banned from the service, WhatsApp now emphasizes. It is most likely that after the new deadline, May 15, people will have to accept the new conditions in order to continue using WhatsApp. Before May 15, people will be ‘gradually asked to review the new policy at their own pace’.

The new conditions make it possible for WhatsApp to become more active in the business market. They clarify, among other things, how WhatsApp stores and uses transaction data for the use of payment services, such as Facebook Pay in WhatsApp. And it highlights the collaboration with these other Facebook business products: it can show users ads in WhatsApp for other Facebook services, such as Facebook Pay and the business service Portal.

However, European WhatsApp users are subject to the terms and conditions of subsidiary WhatsApp Ireland. Under Irish law, WhatsApp must have permission from the Irish Data Protection Commission; WhatsApp can’t just implement it. So little will change for European users.