The drama surrounding WhatsApp's controversial new privacy policy looks like it's coming to an end. After several delays and changes, WhatsApp will no longer require users to agree to the new privacy policy.
This latest change was reported by the WABetaInfo page which announced that WhatsApp's new Terms of Service (ToS) regarding its latest privacy policy will become optional in the next update. This means that users will still be able to use WhatsApp to communicate with family and friends without agreeing to the new ToS.
But users must agree to the new ToS if they want to send messages with business accounts that use cloud providers outside of WhatsApp. If you do not agree, then the user will not be able to chat with the special business account.
From the screenshot uploaded by WABetaInfo, users who have not agreed to this new ToS will get a notification when they want to chat with business accounts that use third-party cloud providers, including those offered by Facebook.
Before starting to chat, users will be asked to review and agree to the new policy by selecting the 'Review' option on the screen. If the user selects the 'Not Now' option then it is likely that the user will not be able to send messages with the business account.
WhatsApp privacy policy will be optional WhatsApp privacy policy will be optional Photo: WABetaInfo
WABetaInfo said WhatsApp will announce the latest changes to these Terms of Service in the near future by releasing an update on WhatsApp beta for Android and iOS.
WhatsApp's new privacy policy has continued to change since it was first announced earlier this year. WhatsApp originally planned to roll out this update on February 8, but it was postponed to May 15 so confused users could understand the contents of the policy.
WhatsApp also briefly announced that it would delete the accounts of users who did not agree to this new policy. But ahead of the May 15 deadline, WhatsApp announced it would not delete user accounts, but users who did not agree to the new privacy policy would lose important features such as the ability to receive messages and phone calls.
It wasn't long before WhatsApp changed its mind and announced that it would not restrict the feature on the accounts of users who didn't approve of the update. With plans to make this ToS optional, it looks like WhatsApp has heard input and complaints from its users.