What just happened? Apple tree's latest iOS privacy update is pushing companies like Facebook into fight of flying way. This is why WhatsApp has decided to impose a new policy on its users if they desire to continue using the service, with the exception of people who live in the Eu.

This calendar week, Facebook-owned WhatsApp started giving users a pop-up alert that looks a lot like an ultimatum for people who want to proceed using the app. Essentially, it says that people demand to agree to new terms of service by February 8 or hazard losing admission to your WhatsApp next calendar month.

The revamped set of requirements is also a reversal on a one-time conclusion in 2022 that allowed users to opt out of having their business relationship data turned over to Facebook. This includes phone numbers, friends' phone numbers, contour names and pictures, condition messages and activeness status, as well as detailed diagnostic data from app logs. Nevertheless, the new policy means Facebook reserves the right to share the information collected inside its family unit of online platforms.

Furthermore, there will exist cases where Facebook decides to share that data with third parties, which has privacy groups riled up once again. The motion is in response to Apple tree's new privacy labels on iOS 14, which highlight all the different ways certain costless apps collect data about their users. This was particularly revealing for the Facebook family unit of apps, which happens to have the almost all-encompassing listing of all.

Information technology shouldn't come as a big surprise that Facebook is so adamant in collecting all that metadata, as the company makes most of its acquirement from advertizing. Concluding month, information technology plunged into a public image feud with Apple using several newspaper ads, just their outcome has yet to produce any results. As for the Cupertino company, they say they're simply encouraging app makers to be more than forthcoming with how they monetize their apps.

When WhatsApp's in-app alert hitting the first users, some speculated that it would spark regulatory scrutiny in the Eu, which is known for having stricter privacy rules. However, WhatsApp's Irish subsidiary said in a statement today that while European users are shown the same prompt to agree to the revamped privacy policy, in their example it doesn't include sharing that data with Facebook's other online platforms or third parties.

A WhatsApp spokeswoman explained "there are no changes to WhatsApp's information sharing practices in the European region arising from the updated terms of service and privacy policy. For the avoidance of any doubt, it is still the case that WhatsApp does not share European region WhatsApp user data with Facebook for the purpose of Facebook using this data to better its products or advertisements." This was farther confirmed by the visitor's director of policy for the EMEA region, Niamh Sweeney.

The fact even so remains that users exterior the European union have to hold to a higher caste of data sharing, stressing the demand for tougher privacy regulation in the United States, as well as other regions with permissive environments. In the meantime, smaller iOS developers are getting creative with how they subvert Apple's privacy update for iOS users.