The soap opera of changes in WhatsApp’s privacy policy continues a saga that began at the beginning of the year. When it seemed clear that, barring government interference, non-acceptance of the privacy policy would progressively limit WhatsApp’s capabilities, the company has completely changed the discourse on its website.
As now stated in the WhatsApp Help Center, “no user’s account will be deleted or access to WhatsApp features removed on May 15 due to this update.” In other words, accepting the privacy policy or not doing so will have no changes, for the time being, in WhatsApp functionality.
Earlier this month, WhatsApp detailed its roadmap for those who resist accepting the privacy policy, describing a gradual suspension of features. First, the list of chats disappeared, then you will not be able to make or receive calls and later you will not be able to receive messages or notifications. In other words, WhatsApp gradually became unusable.
Finally, May 15 arrived and although you may not get the notice, the functionality phase-out was still going ahead and included European users. The privacy policy is still in place, and the notices will still appear, but not accepting the policy will not result in a limitation of functionality, for the time being.
For those who have not yet done so, we will continue to display a notification on WhatsApp offering more information about this and remind you to review and accept it. At this time, we do not plan to make these reminders persistent or limit the functionality of the app.
The above excerpt, taken from the What will happen after the effective date?” section of the WhatsApp Help Center includes the important distinction of “at this time”. In other words, there is still room for a new chapter in this soap opera. The reminders are also not planned to be persistent.
That is, those who have accepted the new privacy policy will remain under its terms, and those who have not will remain tied to the previous policy. In practice, those who have accepted – the majority of users, says WhatsApp – will be able to use WhatsApp as usual, and those who have not will also be able to use WhatsApp as usual, but with sporadic reminders to do so.
From Xataka we have contacted WhatsApp and they have sent us the following statement where it is reiterated that there will be no limitations and that the only thing that will happen is that reminders will be sent from time to time:
Given the recent discussion with various authorities and privacy experts, we want to make it clear that we currently have no plans to limit the functionality of how WhatsApp works for those who have not yet accepted the update. Instead, we will continue to remind users of the update from time to time; as well as when they choose to use relevant optional features, such as communicating with a company supported by Facebook. We hope this approach will reinforce the choice that all users have about whether or not they want to interact with a business.
