WhatsApp can be very positive towards the user with its many features and recent updates, such as those that allow us to automatically mute calls from strangers, create stickers in the app, or consult other apps while you are in a video call (without it being closed). But the European Union did not think so.
After a rather confusing update to its terms and conditions in January 2021, many users thought that their WhatsApp data would be shared with Meta, called Facebook at the time. Now, the company has committed to making its terms of service more transparent within the European Union.
The European Commission issued a press release this week stating that WhatsApp will allow users to reject the terms and conditions of service, and will also explain more clearly what the consequences of this action are.
“I welcome WhatsApp’s commitments to change its practices in order to comply with EU rules, informing users about any changes to their contract and respecting users’ preferred choices rather than asking them every time they open the app,” Didier Reynders, the EU’s justice commissioner, says in the statement. “Consumers have the right to understand what they are agreeing to and what that action concretely entails, so that they can decide whether they want to continue using the platform.”
In the terms and conditions update launched in 2021, WhatsApp went so far as to state that, if users did not accept these conditions, they would lose features of the app, Later, the company clarified (or picked up wire, depending on how you look at it) that this new policy would only apply to businesses that make use of WhatsApp, not to “normal” users. In the end, the company scrapped its plan to remove features for those who did not accept the new conditions.
Following these changes to its policies, both the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC) and the European Commission itself sent a letter to WhatsApp last year, asking the company to “ensure that users understand what they are agreeing to and how their personal data is used.”
Now, with recent changes by WhatsApp, European users will be told how their rights could be affected by updates to its policies, allowing them to both opt out and delay accepting the new terms without frequent notifications reminding them to do so.
