WhatsApp to start sharing user data with Facebook
Phone numbers will be shared with Facebook to offer 'better friend suggestions [and] more relevant ads'
After WhatsApp was bought by Facebook in 2014, users worried that the messaging app's strong stance on privacy might be compromised. Co-founder Jan Koum hoped to stem these fears, writing in a blog post at the time: "Respect for your privacy is coded into our DNA, and we built WhatsApp around the goal of knowing as little about you as possible." Today, though, the company is loosening some of its own restrictions, and has announced it will begin sharing a limited amount of user data — including individuals' phone numbers — with parent company Facebook.
WhatsApp says that sharing this information means Facebook can offer better friend suggestions by mapping users' social connections across the two services, and deliver more relevant ads on the social network. Additional analytics data from WhatsApp will also be shared to track usage metrics and fight spam.
"WhatsApp promises the changes won't lead to a "spammy" service"
The messaging app says it also wants to explore how businesses can use WhatsApp to contact customers. It gives the example of a bank warning a user about a potentially fraudulent transaction, or notifications from airlines about delayed flights, and says that in order to test the features it needs to update its privacy policy. Facebook has already been exploring these sorts of use-cases with Messenger, and WhatsApp suggested it would follow the same path earlier this year. WhatsApp says that users will be able to "manage these communications," and that this won't lead to third-party banner ads on the service.
read more: http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/25/12638698/whatsapp-to-start-sharing-user-data-with-facebook
If the user base chose to use WhatsApp under the guise that personal information was not shared, wouldn't this drive some of the user base away? I know some who use the app because when they are able to use wifi over seas they are still able to text. There is a consistency when traveling. This is a comfort they may not be able to maintain due to the change over from a GSM to CDMA network or from a European carrier to an American prepaid one.