WhatsApp wants people to ‘gradually review the policy’, pushes deadline

WhatsApp on Friday announced that the deadline for accepting terms of service had been pushed from February 8 to an unannounced date, as the Facebook product faced heavy backlash from users in the last week. This statement from the American freeware comes as its rivals Signal and Telegram reported high user traffic after WhatsApp users – concerned about the data-sharing policy– jumped boats.

“We’re now moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms,” WhatsApp said in a blog post.

Only on Thursday, WhatsApp Global Head Will Cathcart told PTI that the Facebook-owned company remains committed to privacy and security of users across India and will continue to explain to users that their messages are end-to-end encrypted.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said the app had over 500 million monthly active users in the first weeks of January. Signal, another instant messaging application also reported significant rise in numbers since WhatsApp announced the privacy policy.

However, now with the potential threat of losing a large user base, WhatsApp said it would instead ‘go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15.’