Mobile messaging service WhatsApp will give its parent company Facebook personal information including users’ phone numbers for targeted advertising purposes.
The messaging app has announced that it will start sharing some user data with its parent company which bought it in a multi-billion dollar deal in 2014. However, WhatsApp say encrypted messages exchanged by its billion plus users will stay private.
Facebook will use the information for targeted advertising and WhatsApp says it will not place banner ads on its own platform or allow spam.
However, it is unclear whether WhatsApp will allow companies to send marketing messages to users.
The two companies claim the new policy will help users find friends and "improve your Facebook ads and products experiences".
"When you and the people you message are using the latest version of WhatsApp, your messages are encrypted by default, which means you’re the only people who can read them," the company said.
"Even as we co-ordinate more with Facebook in the months ahead, your encrypted messages stay private and no one else can read them. Not WhatsApp, not Facebook, nor anyone else."
Whatsapp said it will not "sell, share, or give" phone numbers to advertisers.
The company said it wants to test new features for the messaging service – such as being notified by an airline about a delayed flight – but that its terms and privacy policy needs to be updated first.
WhatsApp is currently alerting users to the changed privacy policy update and people have 30 days to decide whether to opt out of their information being used for ad targeting on Facebook, but will not be able to opt out of their data being sharing with the social network.
