Since the new WhatsApp policy updates were announced, a lot of different rumors spread on what exactly the consequences of the new policies are and how they would affect our activity on the platform. So the right question to ask was “what is it that WhatsApp would do with your account if it did not accept the new privacy policy?”
Despite so much concern and complaints, WhatsApp insists on proceeding with the implementation of the new privacy policy that it had announced earlier and retracted from its activation for a temporary period. As a result a lot of the platform’s users that do not consent to the new changes are switching to competing applications like Signal and Telegram which offer the exact services but with no data breaches.
"WhatsApp" even announced the fate of the accounts that will not follow the new privacy conditions and would not agree to the new policy for the application next May in an official statement of the company. The statement said: “If you reject the new conditions after May 15, you will still be able to receive calls and notifications for a few weeks, but you will not be able to read or send messages through the application.”
With the inconsiderate remarks announced through the statement, the application WhatsApp’s administration sparked a violent reaction, last January since they basically announced that its users were forced to agree to new terms and conditions for the privacy policy. It is worth noting that WhatsApp has been owned and managed by Facebook for a few years now.
The tactics adopted by the Facebook administration are not new but continue to cause a great deal of criticism and controversy. Some of the controversy was unfounded, however, as some of the users thought that "Facebook" would see their private conversations. Of course, the company then came out with a statement clarifying and denying this matter.
After that uproar, WhatsApp, the company owned by "Facebook", postponed reinforcing these changes to May 15, after it was supposed to take effect on February 8th. Although it is not clear yet what are the steps that will be taken next, there are rumors that “WhatsApp” will delete the inactive accounts, those that did not agree to the new changes, after 120 days. Thus, those who would not follow the new settings may be considered as that and delete their accounts. Still, the abrasive measures taken by Facebook to maximize profit continue to shock and completely ignore the number of users using the platforms, often raising questions about the massive amounts of power the company has been earning.
