Will WhatsApp limit features after May 15 deadline in India?

WhatsApp, earlier in the year, revised the company's user privacy policy and asked app subscribers to either accept or decline the terms before May 15.

As per the new terms of services, WhatsApp users have to accept to share the conversation and transaction (including financial details) between them and enterprise owners on the WhatsApp Business app. The company will also share the details with the parent company Facebook and sister firms.

It noted that such user information and metadata (such as user ID and device name) will be used to market their own and their clients' products via targeted ads on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms.

Also, it also tried to allay fears of tracking users' personal contacts. It categorically stated that conversation between the user and any private individual (non-business user) will remain end-to-end encrypted. This means only the sender and the receiver will know the content of the message and the latter cannot be viewed by any other entity, not even WhatsApp or the government for surveillance purposes.

However, WhatsApp has come under sharp criticism as it is not offering an option for users to reject the new policy. Instead, it has given an ultimatum to them to either accept or uninstall the app.

Also, WhatsApp has shown double standards in select regions. For instance, the new user-information policy does not apply in Europe and the credit goes to the strict implementation of the European Union GDRP (General Data Protection Regulation).

Must read | People begin to shun WhatsApp over privacy concerns

Recently, WhatsApp revised the FAQs related to May 15 deadline. It now says that the company will start limiting the features and finally make the app non-functional on the device in a few weeks.

It will be conducted in a phased manner at different speeds around the world. First, users won’t be able to access the chat list, but they will still be able to answer the incoming phone and video calls.

After a few weeks, users won’t be able to receive incoming calls or notifications and WhatsApp will stop sending messages and calls to the phone.

Will WhatsApp end service or limit messenger app's feature after May 15 deadline in India?

For now, WhatsApp has extended the deadline indefinitely in the country.

"We’ve spent the last several months providing more information about our update to users around the world. In that time, the majority of people who have received it have accepted the update and WhatsApp continues to grow. However, for those that have not yet had a chance to do so, their accounts will not be deleted or lose functionality on May 15. We’ll continue to provide reminders to those users within WhatsApp in the weeks to come," WhatsApp spokesperson said to DH.

WhatsApp is still negotiating with the Indian government and also it is facing Public Interest Litigation case in the Delhi High Court.

Recently, WhatsApp's counsel argued that the new policy is less intrusive compared to Zomato, BigBasket, Ola, Koo, Truecaller, Aarogya Setu, which track and store more user information.

Must read | After Facebook, Twitter begins prompting users to enable App Tracking on iPhones, iPads

Anyways, for now, WhatsApp users can breathe easy and continue to use the messenger app without any worries for a few weeks if not months.

We will be keeping our ears to the ground and get you the latest update on WhatsApp.

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