By: Leonardo Neri

Starting next Saturday, May 15, WhatsApp users who have not yet accepted the app's new privacy policy will gradually experience restrictions on their use of the app. According to WhatsApp, notifications about the new policy will appear more frequently and may even overlap with the user's conversations.

Therefore, although the account will not be suspended, the user will be prevented from sending new messages or making new calls, and will only be able to check messages received via the notification tab on their cell phone and answer calls.

The new privacy policy provides for the sharing of personal data with Facebook, a condition that was heavily questioned and debated in Brazil, which led to the deadline for acceptance being extended from February 8 to May 15.

As soon as the new privacy policy was instituted, in January of this year, the application was notified by PROCON-SP, which requested clarification on the purpose of sharing.

WhatsApp ensures that the content of users' conversations remains encrypted, and therefore does not integrate personal data shared between the group's companies. The sharing refers to data such as name, telephone number, contacts, mobile phone model, etc.

Data sharing between networks has been practiced since 2016, the year in which the application was purchased by Facebook. However, authorization for sharing was optional for users, which differs from the current privacy policy, which prevents the use of the application by users who do not accept the new sharing rules.

Consumer protection bodies such as the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD), the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) and the National Consumer Secretariat met to prepare a recommendation to WhatsApp so that the deadline for accepting the new policy be postponed again, with a view to a subsequent review of the terms.