WhatsApp Will Deactivate Your Account If You Don't Agree To Share Data With Facebook

WhatsApp has issued a statement in a new update to its Privacy Policy, saying it will disable your account if you do not agree to share your user data with Facebook.

WhatsApp, the messaging platform owned by Facebook, has announced it will be implementing the new Privacy Policy globally by February 8, 2021.

The Facebook-owned instant messaging service is saying that WhatsApp will now be sharing user data with other Facebook companies.

Some of the data WhatsApp says it will collect from you and share with third parties include; your interactions on the platform, account registration information, transaction data, phone model, OS, IP address, mobile network, ISP, location data, battery level, signal strength, browser, language, time zone and not leaving out IMEI and other data collected based on users' consent.

“We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings.”

WhatsApp users who refuse to accept the new Terms of service and Privacy Policy by February 8, 2021 will be barred from using the service and their profiles deactivated. After 120 days of inactivity, WhatsApp will permanently delete the accounts as part of its efforts to "maintain security, limit data retention, and protect the privacy of our users."

While most of us would all probably bid goodbye to end to end encryption on the messaging service, WhatsApp users in the European Union are however exempted from the revised terms of service and privacy policy. Due to tighter privacy legislation better known as GDPR, the WhatsApp users in 27 European countries will not have their data shared with third parties.

Meanwhile, millions of WhatsApp users including prominent celebrities worldwide are already ditching the app for other secure instant messaging apps such as Signal.

The Signal messenger provides the same robust encryption engine with a much more transparent privacy policy and terms of service. Besides the encrypted chats it provides, Signal also offers encrypted audio and video calls.

Elon Musk who recently surpassed Jeff Bezos to become the richest man in the world, earlier showed a strong support for Signal, when he tweeted his followers and enjoined them to boycott WhatsApp by using Signal.

Use Signal

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021

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Facebook Launches App To App Messaging For Instagram And Messenger

Facebook has announced an update to Instagram DMs as they introduce a new Messenger experience on the app. In their latest integration move, Facebook said it is allowing select users on Messenger and Instagram to message one another app to app.

The Verge reports that in addition to the launch of cross-platform messaging, Instagram is also getting a major overhaul of its DM system, which will be expanded with features taken from Messenger. With the update, Facebook says it will be much easier to stay connected without thinking about which app to use to reach out to your friends and family. 

The integration comes with 10 new features to help you have fun on the go as you interact with close friends and loved ones. The upgrade features new Instagram messaging tools such as custom emoji, vanishing messages, chat colors, selfie stickers, a new unwanted messages blocking feature and the introduction of Messenger’s Watch Together feature, which lets you watch videos with friends during a video call.

The Verge also reports that users will be able to reject the update if they choose, but Facebook will no doubt be betting that access to new features will encourage them to say yes. In addition to cross-platform messaging, users on Instagram and Messenger can also search for profiles across both apps simultaneously. Users can opt out of these features if they wish.

It is currently unclear when and where Instagram and Messenger cross-platform messaging will be made available. CNN however reports that, the feature is currently being “tested in select markets and will expand globally in the coming months.” There’s no public timeline on when Facebook might also begin integrating its other messaging behemoth, WhatsApp.

Here are all the features coming soon to the new Messenger experience on Instagram:

• Communicate Across Apps: Seamlessly connect with friends and family across Instagram and Messenger by using either app to send messages and join video calls.

• Watch Together: Enjoy watching videos on Facebook Watch, IGTV, Reels (coming soon!), TV shows, movies, and more with friends and family during a video call.

• Vanish Mode: Choose a mode where seen messages disappear after they’re seen or when you close the chat.

• Selfie Stickers: Create a series of boomerang stickers with your selfie to use in conversation.

• Chat Colors: Personalize your chats with fun color gradients.

• Custom Emoji Reactions: Create a shortcut of your favorite emojis to react quickly to messages from friends.

• Forwarding: Easily share great content with up to five friends or groups.

• Replies: Respond directly to a specific message in your chat and keep the conversation flowing.

• Animated Message Effects: Add visual flair to your message with animated send effects.

• Message Controls: Decide who can message you directly, and who can’t message you at all.

• Enhanced Reporting and Blocking Updates: Now you can report full conversations in addition to single messages on Instagram, and receive proactive blocking suggestions across Instagram and Messenger when you add your accounts in the new Accounts Center.

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Twitter Staff Can Now Work From Home Forever

In what has been described as "an era-defining moment" by one digital innovation expert, Twitter has given its staff the leeway to work from home 'forever' if they wish, as the company looks towards the future after the coronavirus pandemic - BBC reports.

Twitter cited the success recorded while working from home during the lockdown as the reason for its decision.

The social media giant however admitted it would allow workers to return to the office if they choose when it reopens.

This comes after Google and Facebook announced that their staff can work from home until the end of the pandemic and the year.

Twitter issued a statement which read thus: 

"The past few months have proven we can make that work. So if our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen."

Twitter added that for staff who are keen to return to the company's office, 'they will be welcomed and with some additional precautions'.

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Facebook Is Offering Users $5 To Record Their Voice | See How To Get Yours

Facebook is offering users of the social network a total of $5 to record their voice. The Social Networking giant is paying selected individuals to record a certain phrases to enable Facebook improve it’s voice recognition tools which is currently being developed.

Facebook is asking selected people to record phrases like “Hey Portal, call…” The user will then mention of first name of a Facebook contact or user to call. 

You will be required to repeat the phrase about 10 times so your voice can be captured accurately using your different tones, voice texture, pitch and how coarse your voice is. The test process takes about five minutes to complete.

On your completion of each task, you will earn 200 points on the app. The task can only be completed five times, for a total of 1,000 points. The total number of points will have you earn $5 which will be sent to you through PayPal.

What do you think about this development? Let us know in the comment section below

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Facebook Introduces New Feature To Help Get Over Breakups More Easily

According to reports stemming from the The Atlantic, Facebook has just found and will introduce a way to make the pain of a breakup a little easier to handle for people.

Here's the full report below.

This is good news because otherwise you'll be at risk of seeing photos, posts, and all kinds of things from your ex (or that they're tagged in) if you don't go through and unfriend/block everything from them.

In 2015, the social network started to test a feature designed to help you cut ties and get over your breakup a bit more gently. After you end a relationship on Facebook, you're taken through what the company calls a "breakup flow," wherein you can answer a series of questions about how much you do or don't want to see of your ex on Facebook. Ultimately, it'll even let you decide to never see them pop up in your newsfeed. 

Although not all relationships are such that you'd be inclined to completely "take a break," as the feature is called, but if you're dealing with an especially painful divorce, the end of a serious long-term relationship, or are otherwise really struggling with the demise of your relationship, it definitely could help ease some of that pain. 

Beyond blocking your ex completely or never seeing them in your newsfeed at all, the social media network will also let you archive your message thread with them or turn off the site's "scrapbook sharing" feature. If you want to be able to hold on to your conversation or make sure that you won't see those "on this day" posts of photos of the two of you from the past, Facebook's got you covered there too.

According to a 2013 study, spending more time on Facebook is associated with "negative relationship outcomes" like cheating, breakups, or divorces. This was only the case for those who'd been in their relationship for three years or fewer, not those in longer-term relationships. Although this was only one study, there are others that also show that the more time you spend on Facebook, the greater your chance of experiencing jealousy, relationship dissatisfaction, or the likelihood of a breakup.

Whether spending time browsing Facebook potentially contributed to your breakup or not, it's at least nice that it might be able to help you get over it.

Regardless of how you answer the questions in the "breakup flow," unless either of you unfriends or blocks the other, you'll still be able to go directly to their page and see whatever you'd like if you want to, as CNN reported. 

And although limiting what you see of your former partner won't make the breakup a total breeze, it just might help you feel a little bit better until you're at a point where you're ready to see them occasionally pop up in your newsfeed again, should that day ever come.

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