Whats up with Whatsapp
My spreadsheet brain

Whats up with Whatsapp? 8 simple points to help you understand.

Okay everybody calm down. Hold up. Let’s all take a collective “wooosahhhhh”. Rub those earlobes Susan… we’ve decided that we’re not going to freak out. Okay? I know you’re all wondering “whats up with Whatsapp?!” I mean, the aunties in our chat groups are telling us that the messaging app wants to steal our information and that we will lose access to the app from the 8 Feb. Hey, look at me! No freaking out, I said!

So, yes, it’s not a hoax, it’s a real thing. As of 8 February, Whatsapp will become unavailable to those not willing to accept their new terms of service.

“AAACK! What are the terms of service?!” I hear you shout out to me.

First all, I asked you to stay calm, Susan.
Secondly… do not fear, friends, I’m here to explain it to you in – uhhh – mummy terms. (I call it “mummy terms” because “dummy terms” is rude and we will not tolerate that kind of language around here, young lady.)

Whats up with WhatsappAnyways, here’s what’s happening, in point form: 

  1. Whatsapp is changing its terms of service.
    This means that they are being transparent with regards to what their future plans are.
  2. Functionally speaking, little will change for existing Whatsapp users.
    This means that you will still beable to use the app, and enjoy the end-to-end encrypted chatting that it offers (as in, they are not outhere reading your messages).
  3. The change is to create an integration between Whatsapp and Facebook, making it easier for businesses who use Whatsapp, to make use of the Facebook infrustructure.
    This means that businesses and their clients, will have more options with regards to how they shop on the Facebook and Whatsapp platforms. The two will be linked.
  4. Facebook has owned Whatsapp since 2014 by the way.
    This means that Whatsapp and Facebook have been in partnership for a long time. This isn’t a new agenda.
  5. If you’re a Facebook/Google user, you’ve been sharing your data already. It’s not a new thing.
    This means that apps have always used your data to manage the type of services they offer, advertising and even how they go about growing their corporations.
  6. So if you’re ditching Whatsapp because privacy is an issue for you, you should probably delete every other app you’re registered on.
  7. If you’re still uncomfy with Whatsapp, you could switch to Telegram or Signal, but you would need to ask your friends and family to switch too.
  8. Oh and last tip, instead of relying on family chat groups to provide you with information, rather rely on verified/trusted sources of information.

With that said, you can can check out more about the above over here:

My Broadband

Business Insider

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