WhatsApp to share phone nos with Facebook

Messaging service WhatsApp has updated its global privacy policy, under which it will now share phone numbers of users with its parent company, Facebook.

While the move will help Facebook offer more targeted advertisements on its own platform, WhatsApp will continue to be ad-free, a WhatsApp spokesperson said.

He added that this is the first time when WhatsApp has updated user privacy policy after being acquired by Face-book in 2014 in a $19 billion deal.

Privacy advocates had raised concerns that Facebook would start mining WhatsApp acco-unts for data. However, both the companies have maintained that WhatsApp would operate separately from the parent company and that its user data would not be shared without users’ consent.

WhatsApp has over one billion users globally, with a significant chunk coming from India. Facebook also runs photo-sharing platform, Instagram.

“As part of the Facebo-ok family of companies, WhatsApp receives info-rmation from, and sh-ares information with, this family of compan-ies. We may use the inf-ormation we receive fr-om them, and they may use the information we share with them to help operate, provide, understand, customise, suppo-rt, and market our services,” he said.