At the beginning of the year, Facebook-owned WhatsApp brought a series of new changes to the privacy policy. However, it didn’t go like how the online instant messaging platform expected it would. The new privacy policy update by the company faced huge criticism and backlash from Indian users. The reason behind the disappointment was the new policy stated that the company would share the user details with the parent company Facebook. The new policy has created a huge buzz on the internet, and the entire country switched to instant online messaging platforms Signal and Telegram. Let's have a look at what happens if you don't accept the WhatsApp privacy policy.
After receiving huge criticism from the Indian users, the company decided to push the deadline to accept the policy by three months, which is till May 15. At the time of extending the rollout timeline, the company promised to educate the users about the new policies. According to WhatsApp, “We’ll be doing much more to make our voice clear going forward.”
Unfortunately, we haven’t noticed any actions taken by the instant messaging platform to educate users about the updated privacy policies. So far, the company has only published a few blogs and published a new ban on the app, informing users that they have to accept the privacy policy until May 15 if they want to continue using the app. This seems to be a threat instead of spreading education about the policy.
What Happen if you Disagree with WhatsApp Policies
If users do not agree to the new ToS by May 15, then they will lose some functionalities for sure. It might be possible that WhatApp will extend the deadline at the last minute, but no one knows the plan. In the blog post, the company claims that the users will not be able to use the full functionalities of the platform if they don’t accept the new policies. Users will be able to receive calls and notifications, but they won’t be able to send.
Do note that your WhatsApp account will not be deleted unless it remains inactive for more than 120 days. If you want to accept the new policies, then you can click on the pop-up on the home screen and tap on ‘Agree’.