WhatsApp changes its relationship with Facebook, do the ads arrive between messages?

WhatsApp does it again. Change back your Terms of Use or your own rules by which you operate. And yes, Facebook is involved with the possible appearance of ads or .

New WhatsApp Terms of Service

The investigations come through WABetaInfo, an account that usually scrutinizes the news discovered in the beta or test versions of WhatsApp. This is where you can find out what WhatsApp is working on, or what is coming soon.And the surprise this time, when reviewing version 2.18.57 of the messaging application, is that it will once again take a turn in its Terms of Service That's right , always understanding that, for now, neither the changes nor the discovered text are final until WhatsApp officially confirms it. These are the newly discovered sections related to Facebook:

How WhatsApp works with other Facebook companies

This section specifies that Facebook has different companies and companies, and that also offer services to WhatsApp Here emphasis is placed on that, among all these Facebook companies, work is being done to provide integrity and security to the services.

The interesting thing is in the section that talks about sharing data between WhatsApp and these companies, which will be done following the terms of service and taking into account all that security and integrity that they mention.And they ensure that Facebook will not show any of this data, including the user's phone number, if the user does not allow it.

Some of those services and ways in which these Facebook companies work with WhatsApp are also clarified, very vaguely. References are made, without practical examples that clarify and specify, to services such as analysis of the use of WhatsApp, or the services and infrastructures that you need for messages to arrive to the recipient. Of course, they also mention that these companies offer ways to connect WhatsApp with other Facebook tools. What we intuit are the recommendations and suggestions of friendship, and other similar issues. Although, again, they are not specified or clarified in these new Terms of Use.

More interesting is the section that talks about business and WhatsApp. Something that inevitably reminds us of the presence of WhatsApp Business.Here WhatsApp talks about the virtues of being able to contact businesses directly through its service, which entails sending information such as orders, transactions, delivery notifications, business directories, marketing messages and, most notably:and other sponsored content / ads from these companies In this case, we are talking about specific examples such as the option on Facebook to contact a business via WhatsApp. In these cases, WhatsApp will transfer information about the user to Facebook to show their interests and possible relationships in WhatsApp.

Security and integrity

In the possible new terms of use of WhatsApp there is also a space dedicated to security and integrity. We hope that from the user. And it is that in these new lines it is said that the work between the companies of Facebook and WhatsApp is also focused on keep dangerous people and abusive activity awayIn this way, these companies that belong to Facebook will be able to have information such as the telephone number and profile name of WhatsApp users. They may also have data such as when users registered, the last time WhatsApp was used, the types and frequency of functions that are used in it or the businesses that are contacted. It also specifies that you may provide data about advertisements and other types of messages from companies with which you interact Of course, information about your mobile phone will also be sent users such as operating system, location or version of WhatsApp used.

So will there be ads on WhatsApp?

From WABetaInfo they are cautious and invite you to wait for official statements by WhatsApp through its official blog. And it is that all this new text has been discovered hidden in a test version, which implies that may vary from here to when it is finally publishedHowever, the presence of WhatsApp Business and Facebook in the future intentions of WhatsApp is recognizable.

It is not unreasonable because they have to cover their backs before the new uses that are going to be given to WhatsApp. Both in the field empresarial, putting users in contact directly with companies and sponsored content (still without knowing if it will be), as well as with new banking practices of sending money between users that are already active in India.

Now, we will have to see if this sponsored content is really intrusive advertisements sent to us by the businesses we contact. Or even worse, ads generated through all that usage data that we give to Facebook on a more or less voluntary basis. Is very soon to know it. What is clear is that WhatsApp will no longer be the innocent messaging application of its beginnings, and that it is undoubtedly linked to Facebook and the .

The evolution of WhatsApp

Back in 2014, WhatsApp was one of those applications that drew attention above all others. Its growth was exponential and its use in countries like Spain had spread to become part of the daily life of millions of people. This hasn't changed, but the application has (and a lot) over the years First of all because of its design and functionality, but more importantly is that, in that mentioned year, it became the property of Facebook.

The purchase alerted everyone to the bad reputation that Mark Zuckerberg's social network was dragging. A huge amount of money to date (22,000 million dollars, about 18,000 million euros), many privacy problems and some commotion over the information to which the social network would have access embittered the transaction However, from WhatsApp, they fought tooth and nail to clarify that there was never any transfer of information or that any type of information would be introduced into the messages. Something that has not been fulfilled over time.

In 2016 WhatsApp changed the terms of use to announce that it would share data directly with Facebook. Information such as phone number and other data that could be used for advertising purposes on the social network. No information about sent messages or other private matters. However, the true intentions of Facebook towards WhatsApp and its need to find a way of profitability began to show. A situation that led France to force WhatsApp to stop sharing the data of its users with Facebook for not having duly reported these practices. Decisions that users do not like, especially those who are most jealous of their intimacy and privacy. But because of what they will (we will have) to go through if we want to continue using WhatsApp in the future.