Considering Turning Away From WhatsApp Due To Forcing New Policies

Illustration. (Photo: Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The internet has recently been enlivened by the new WhatsApp policy which will take effect on February 8. However, this new regulation forces users to agree to it, for those who do not wish to have to delete their account.

According to information from this new privacy policy, previously announced by VOI, it allows WhatsApp to share user data with Facebook, and this data is then used by Facebook to make money from WhatsApp.

It is known, so far Facebook has not made money from WhatsApp, and its revenue only comes from WhatsApp Business, unlike Instagram which makes money from advertising.

However, not all users are happy with WhatsApp's new policy. Because they think Facebook is like forcing users to share their data with the company.

The same thing was conveyed by multimedia and ICT observer Teguh Prasetya who regretted the new rules for instant messaging services. Teguh said that Facebook's move was like coercion and users were not given other options.

"The first is, of course, the one-sided decision from WhatsApp to use the personal data of its users, especially with the consequences for those not willing to follow WhatsApp's will. This can be categorized as coercion so that WhatsApp users are not given the option not to accept it. knowing that WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, "Teguh said when contacted by VOI, Friday, January 8.

On the other hand, Teguh believes that user data stored in the Facebook company is quite safe, even though later user data can be accessed by other Facebook subsidiaries.

"It is safe from the storage side, maybe yes, but from the misuse of data for purposes that are not approved or have not been agreed upon by the owner of this data, which must be ensured does not happen," Teguh said.

"Therefore, the need for a Personal Data Protection Act (PDP Law) to be promulgated so that it becomes a guideline for all Indonesian people," he continued.

Meanwhile, Teguh also hopes that in Indonesia itself, with the new Facebook policy that processes WhatsApp user data, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kemenkominfo) is asked to take part in protecting it too.

Unfortunately, users who do not agree with this policy, even worried that their data is being misused, prefer to turn away from WhatsApp. But according to Teguh, WhatsApp is still the most secure instant messaging application compared to other applications such as Telegram and Signal.

"WhatsApp (being the choice) is the first one, so that others become a comparison for WhatsApp and WhatsApp users are also more and more popular here," said Teguh.

Plus Minus WhatsApp Compared to Other Applications

WhatsApp early last year managed to reach two billion users, up from the 1.5 billion disclosed in 2018. Where this instant messaging service also remains free of advertisements and does not charge any fees to its users.

The announcement makes WhatsApp the second application from Facebook to join the club of 2 billion users, the first being Facebook itself.

WhatsApp, founded 12 years ago right in 2009 and sold to Facebook for 19 billion US dollars (US) seven years ago, and of course with that long time, the instant messaging service continues to grow and provides a variety of features to make users unable leave it.

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But, what are the advantages and disadvantages of WhatsApp so that it becomes an application that is used by 2 billion users? Let's compare WhatsApp with Telegram.

1. WhatsApp security

From this point of view, we know that WhatsApp has an end-to-end encryption feature that is activated automatically, as well as a 2-Step Security Verification option (2 Factor Authentication), while Telegram offers a built-in passcode key, it also has two-step security verification, and there is feature set automatic deletion of messages that have been sent.

Unfortunately, the downside of Telegram is that normal conversations only use client-server encryption. This means that Telegram has an encryption key on the server side. In other words, Telegram can access the chats of its users. Meanwhile, end-to-end encryption is only active on Secret Chats.

2. Features

WhatsApp and Telegram are constantly competing to present their latest features so that users don't turn away.

Photo: Unsplash

Instant messaging service owned by Facebook, WhatsApp itself has a feature of forwarding messages to several contacts at once, making video calls for up to 8 participants, it also has a message backup and restore function, there is also a dark mode that makes users comfortable and can withdraw message sent.

In addition, users can also send messages only if they know the phone number of the WhatsApp user, and one phone number can only be used on one cellphone.

However, unlike Telegram, WhatsApp can only accommodate 256 participants in a group, and can only share file types with a size limit of 100 MB.

Looking at Telegram, it has a group feature that can accommodate nearly 200 thousand members, there are also features for polls, quizzes, hashtags, bots for managing groups, sending files with a size limit of 1.5 GB, there is an edit feature (edit) messages that have been sent , a message scheduling feature, encrypted secret chat, can start a chat only by knowing the username and phone number, and can be used on multiple devices. Unfortunately, Telegram has no video calling feature, and dark mode.

WhatsApp New Policy Key Points

There are important points that WhatsApp users should know about the new policy that will take effect on February 8, what are they? The following is the explanation as quoted from GadgetsNow.

1. Changes to the Privacy Policy

WhatsApp will present three changes in its new policy, namely how applications process user data, how businesses can use Facebook services to store and manage WhatsApp chats, and later there will be more data that WhatsApp will integrate with other Facebook products.

2. Collected WhatsApp User Data

According to the new privacy policy, WhatsApp will collect hardware data such as battery level, app version signal strength, browser information, mobile network, connection information (including phone number, mobile operator or ISP), language and time zone, IP address, device operating information. , and identifiers (including unique identifiers to Facebook Company Products associated with the same device or account).

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3. What Information Is Shared to Facebook

Almost all the data WhatsApp collects will be shared on Facebook. The Privacy Policy says it will share cellphone numbers, IP addresses, and device information.

"Information that we share with Facebook Companies includes my registration information (such as cell phone number), transaction data, information related to services, information about how to interact with other users (including businesses) when using the service including other information we collect based on user consent. , "as written in WhatsApp's new policy

Photo: Unsplash

4. Ads have not appeared

So far, WhatsApp still doesn't allow third-party banner ads on its platform and there's no information yet on whether the service will embed it.

However, "if we do that, we will change this Privacy Policy," said WhatsApp. So we will never know if WhatsApp intends to embed advertisements on its platform.

5. Data to be Saved by WhatsApp

They will collect IP address data, and other information such as cell phone number area codes even if the user does not activate the user's location feature. This is to estimate the user's city or country, it is stated in WhatsApp's new privacy policy.

Facebook also revealed that it will store user funds in Facebook's global Data Center, including those in the US.

6. Even if WhatsApp is deleted, it doesn't mean that user data is safe

When users take steps to delete their WhatsApp account directly, it doesn't mean their data will also disappear. Users are required to retrieve all data from WhatsApp and then delete them themselves.

"When you delete your account, it will not affect your information relating to the group conversation created or your information owned by other users such as copies of messages that have been sent," explained WhatsApp.

7. Don't Just Interact With WhatsApp Business

With this privacy policy change, when users interact with WhatsApp Business, several other users can view shared content. This means that the user cannot be sure how the data will be used.

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