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Whatsapp Sneaky With Their Latest Update

Enric Oon

Enric Oon

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For those of you on Whatsapp, you’d have seen this alert sometime last week. You probably just clicked on “Agree” and gotten on with your life, didn’t you?

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Whatsapp Sneaky With Their Latest Update

Usually, that’ll be no big deal. But not this time.

Because the fine print says that the app will now pull personal information, including names and phone numbers, from WhatsApp to the “Facebook group of companies”, which includes the likes of Instagram and Oculus. Among other things, this means that many more companies now have your user profile and contact information, and they (and their partners and advertisers) can now send you messages and ads via WhastApp.

You can revoke this permission

When you see the pop-up, you can scroll to the bottom and check the box to NOT share your account information.

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But if you’ve already jumped the gun, it’s not too late. You now have 30 days to go to SettingsAccount – and uncheck Share my account info.

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To be fair, Whatsapp is (and will remain) a free and ad-free service. Which means that they’ve got to make a buck somehow to keep it running. Is sharing our info a small price to pay for a, frankly quite excellent, free lunch?

What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.

Enric Oon

Enric Oon

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