WhatsApp’s controversial new privacy policy is here – what you need to know

Facebook announced plans to update the WhatsApp terms of services last October, but it was WhatsApp's subsequent notifications in early 2021 that shocked users, telling them they’ll have to agree to share more data with Facebook or risk losing access to WhatsApp. The backlash was immediate and brutal, with millions of people downloading competing chat apps like Signal and Telegram in January. Facebook mounted a massive defense, delaying the terms of service change deadline to May 15th in order to better explain the planned changes.

Facebook has made it clear since January that WhatsApp will not lose the default end-to-end encryption that all chats and calls get, and the company recently announced that WhatsApp users who do not agree to the new privacy policy will not be banned from the platform. But there’s no way to reject the terms or block Facebook from collecting data starting May 15th.

Now that the deadline has arrived, your options are limited. You can accept the new terms and continue using WhatsApp just like before, or you can ignore the prompt and either delete the app or use it in a significantly limited capacity.