To engage Facebook, FG kicks over a new WhatsApp privacy policy

The Federal Government has rejected WhatsApp’s revised privacy policy, stating that it will work with the company’s owners, Facebook, to resolve any perceived gray areas. Dr. Femi Adeluyi, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy’s Technical Assistant (Information Technology), said his principal’s attention had been drawn to the development in a statement issued over the weekend.

The new rule permits WhatsApp to share information about its users with its parent company, Facebook, as well as its subsidiaries.

User phone numbers, “transaction data, service-related information, information on how you
interact with others (including businesses) when using our services,
mobile device information and your IP address” are among the information collected.

Non-compliant users, according to WhatsApp, risk being blocked.