WhatsApp delays privacy changes until May 15; No account to be deleted on 8 Feb

Jan. 16: WhatsApp announced delaying by three months the implementation of a new privacy policy that has faced massive backlash with tens of millions of its users moving from the platform to rivals like Signal and Telegram. The policy change was originally scheduled to come into effect on February 8, the Facebook-owned company said. In a post, the social media giant said, “No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8. We’re also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security works on WhatsApp.”

WhatsApp now says it is now going to use the three-month delay to better communicate both the changes in its new policy and its long-standing privacy practices around personal chats, location sharing, and other sensitive data. ”We’re now moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms,” the blog post reads.