WhatsApp is changing their privacy policy, and among the new terms, there is one that says it will share your phone number with Facebook. Apparently, this will help Facebook show you more relevant ads, as well as improve metrics tracking.
However, for the end user this just seems like a major privacy violation and if you agree this is an issue, I’m going to explain below how you can stop WhatsApp from sharing your phone number with Facebook.
How to stop WhatsApp from sharing your phone number with Facebook
It’s rather obvious WhatsApp realized there are going to be a large number of people that won’t agree to their new privacy policy so they offer us a way of opting out.
There are two ways you can stop WhatsApp from sharing your phone number with Facebook:
Method 1 – Directly from the T&Cs
If you haven’t been greeted by the new terms and conditions yet, you will when you open WhatsApp the next time. So go ahead and launch the app, and you will be prompted to accept the company’s new terms and conditions.
Don’t tap on ‘Agree’, but choose ‘Read’ instead.
Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and you will see an option that lets WhatsApp share your account details with Facebook. Simply uncheck this option before tapping “Agree” and you’re done.
Method 2 – From WhatsApp’s settings
Terms and Conditions are usually very boring, so you might have simply agreed to them and went about your day. If you already accepted WhatsApp’s new privacy policy, you have 30 days to change your mind.
In WhatsApp, head over to Settings -> Account and deselect the ‘Share my account info’ option.
As I already mentioned, you have 30 days to opt out of the new privacy policy from the moment you agreed to it so if sharing your phone number with Facebook bothers you, it’s best to opt-out as soon as possible.
Also, be aware that opting out of the new terms and conditions only means your WhatsApp account details will not be shared with Facebook – the social network. Facebook – the company and other companies under it will still be able to use this data for various other reasons (typically to improve their algorithms and metrics).
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