Have you accepted the TOS that give FB access to your WhatsApp data?

Never accepted it. Moved to Signal. Didn't install WhatsApp when I upgraded my phone a few months ago. "unfriended" absolutely everyone on Facebook and manually destroyed all my Facebook activities going back to the creation of my account there. Absolutely all of it. The more difficult the process became, the more I realized how coercive they were in welding you into their network. I maintain an empty shell of an account filled with "creative" metadata due to some public groups and clubs that do not have the resources to manage their own presence online.

Suffice to say I did not respond well to the TOS change.

I didn’t all this while, but just yesterday when my toddler was playing with my phone, the pop up opened and it got clicked as my toddler was repeatedly beating on the screen.

I guess this was their intention all along by showing repeated pop up windows.

Can someone give me a simple non-cynical explanation on what the update in terms is about? From my understanding, it only pertains to communications with businesses and give them some Facbeook tools to manage their communications with customers.

I straight up deleted my WhatsApp and Facebook accounts when they announced those plans. Thankfully I was mostly able to move everyone I care about from WhatsApp to Signal. It's been smooth sailing ever since, and I'm step further from having a tech giant control my life.

Nope, I still click the "X" in the top corner every time I open it.

However, I use WhatsApp sparingly - my mum and one friend, that's it.

At some point I'll remove it completely.

I think the question is asking one thing and asserting another:

- "have you accepted the TOS?" as the question

- "the TOS gives FB access to (all) your WhatsApp data" as the assertion

My questions: do you believe that this new TOS gives FB access to my WhatsApp data? If so, to which of my data? All of it?

I personally don't believe this TOS gives FB access to all of the communication data I have on WhatsApp, and thus rendering e2ee useless, yet, I'm open to learning how I might be wrong on that.

Nobody is talking about how ridiculous it is that none of these messaging apps talk to the other.

everyone i know uses whatsapp and nothing else, no real choice until the apps talk to each other.

They should really have a "don't ask again" button. Is it really opt-in if they ask the user every time they open the app? It feels like it's opt-in by attrition.

I actually find some joy out of repeatedly seeing and rejecting the dialogue.

People seeing this post are split to 2 groups:

- Those who didn't accept the new terms are glad to use the opportunity to virtue-signal.

- Those who accepted the new terms are afraid to admit so.

I'll bite the bullet: I accepted the terms.

If you want more honest opinions, you should probably post an anonymous poll.

No, I uninstalled it when Facebook acquired WhatsApp.

I switched to Telegram, Wire and Threema.

When Matrix became viable in 2020, I switched to it.

Though, I still have a few contacts remaining at Telegram.

Yes, because the update doesn't actually substantially affect my privacy. YMMV.

I haven't. I also moved WhatsApp into isolated user profile using Island to restrict the access to my data.

On top of that changed permissions: no microphone, no file system, no camera access.

Nope, I'm still stubbornly dismissing it every time it appears! It's been several months now, I think, and AFAIK nothing bad has happened as a result.

I derive a small amount of pleasure from clicking the little x every few days. I have no idea if it does anything, and I imagine at some point they'll just decide I've accepted anyway but I have no intention of agreeing willingly. I like to think that somewhere in Facebook's offices there's a dashboard that shows acceptance rate and I'm doing my part to keep that small % of resistance alive.

I also stopped sharing my contacts with whatsapp around the time the whole fiasco started.

It's crazy to me that it seems like it's basically a legitimate tactic to hope that users accidentally agree to your TOS.

Nope, I just deleted my Facebook and WhatsApp accounts and moved to Signal.

My parents, my GF and around 5 friends installed Signal because of me, one friend started calling me instead and the rest... well I guess I wasn't that important to them.

Overall I'm much happier now.

Yes, I had to swap to an alternative phone while my phone was been repaired - it seems that it becomes mandatory when moving phone

Still haven’t accepted. Waiting to see how long this lasts, and what will Facebook do about it eventually.

No, I haven't installed WhatsApp, nor any Facebook app/program on my laptop.

I always use Facebook via the web, in reverse chronological order. If I suddenly see a stream of old/very interesting stuff, I know I've accidently let the algorithm into my brain, and click on the url again to get back to sanity.

https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr

No, removed WhatsApp and all Facebook apps from my phone since then. Using Telegram and Signal instead. Don't want them spying on my phone or my data, at least when using through a browser they can't get so much data.

I can use Facebook and Instagram via the browser if needed, although I have not logged into fb from my phone since I updated my phone, just to keep it exclusive to my desktop.

Still use WhatsApp because friends, but did not accept the new terms..

Trying to move everyone to signal but there are stragglers....

I'm just not using Facebook or Whatsapp. Much easier that way :)

Also, I have found that the only people who insist on using it and aren't willing to contact me through other means are exactly the people where I was mostly keeping in touch because of social obligations, and not because I actually enjoy talking to them.

The only way to opt out is to stop using it - clicking accept/reject will most likely make no difference at all especially given Facebooks past behavior - I believe you can't trust them to honor any "opt-out"...

Its my opinion its just a box ticking permission for what they are doing already....

Nope. Originally I opted out when it let me (was that 2016?) and when this tos came along I couldn't get some people to switch to signal so decided to see how long it will let me press the x button. Which still works. It seems the pop up has a 24h cooldown for me (EU).

Stopped using it years ago as soon as I could convince everyone to start using Telegram or Signal.

No, I uninstalled WhatsApp. I did not have FB installed, ever, so the problem is fully solved.

Same, I always nope away from that screen. I wonder how long it will keep going.

I have accepted, but I have locked down all the other permissions in-app such as Contacts, Camera Roll, Location etc. Whilst this certainly won't stop them, I hope it makes some of my data less useful.

Honestly, I saw some dialog and clicked Accept, despite not reading it. I don't use WhatsApp for anything critical. I use iMessage for that and I have a lot of trust in Apple to do the right thing.

Same, I click it away every time I open the app, maybe once per month.

I am the only one who have accepted here?

I am the only one who don't care that much about Facebook knowing stuff about me?

I dislike Facebook and use it as little as possible for other reasons, but that some company knows about my favorite brands is low in my list of considerations.

I actually care about my privacy, it is just that governments and multinational companies are not my main focus. Too big, too far, at least for someone like me.

The new TOS didn't really change much for one to one conversation but it exposed the previous TOS when people started comparing clauses and actually read it. I accepted the terms and use WhatsApp if I absolutely have to. No personal stuff there. They still have my metadata but I've tried to give them as little data as possible. No status and no profile photo. No Google drive backups.

I immediately closed my WhatsApp account and moved to Telegram, and I urged anyone in my family who wanted me in a group to do the same.

They all switched, except my sister who works with people in countries where Whatsapp is the dominant communication platform.

I'm still ticked off that Google Allo was the best designed chat app of the past decade and that they thought Messages with RCS features could take its place.

I did not see any option to cancel it and want to undo my agreement but unsure how. If anyone could tell me, I'd be very thankful.

I rejected them for months, but eventually I had to accept them because they wouldn't allow me to keep using the app until I did.

Under duress, yes. There is a multitude of people and groups I wouldn't be able to contact without WhatsApp. For a couple of months I was hoping that the tide would turn to Signal/Telegram, but it just didn't really happen. There is no way I can contact the people I want to contact apart from WhatsApp.

Of course I did not accept the TOS change. I never accepted any TOS from facebook, nor whatsapp. Centralized communication systems are obviously worse than decentralized ones for everybody except the few people profiting from it. So I never signed up to facebook or whatsapp or any other such "service".

No, it’s what pushed me to delete WhatsApp

I actually just tapped that little X before switching to this tab. At this point it just feels like a Placebo.

I deleted my facebook account 6 years ago or so and nobody noticed it at all. It's been a platform solely to consume shitposts and stalk others - that's it. Therefore my account deletion went completely unnoticed :)

However, unfortunately, I still use WhatsApp to this day - because of convinience.

I don't remember having accepted it!

Now, I wouldn't be surprised if that data was shared anyway before I'd clicked, and that in the end, Facebook only pretended having given user's the choice!

And if Facebook provided me the choice, I would happily revoke my consent.

Still not accepted, muscle memory now to click the "x". It asks me once a week maybe?

I was in the lucky situation that I deleted my FB account already years ago. It was the Christmas before the Cambridge analytica Skandal Hit. My fb account was on sleep for 6 month already by that time and I decided to delete it all. I requested a backup of all my data and then hit the delete button. Seven days later roughly after New Years I was gone from FB. I stopped myself from doing a political post before leaving as I didn’t want to come across a person who things is on a moral high ground whatever. Remember it was before the huge data leek which followed a few month later. I have to add that I only got dragged into the FB bubble because of an employment switch. My company had multiple apps on FB and development and testing was easier with a real profile. I was on FB from 2013 to 2017 or so. And I wasn’t the most active in producing content.

As of WhatsApp. Refused to install the app even before FB bought it. Lucky me was right for once.

I don't use any Facebook products and haven't for over a decade. It's nice.

Got fed up clicking it away, deleted the app and moved my family to Signal.

I wasn't using WhatsApp much anyway, so I just deleted my account. My primary IM services are Telegram and VKontakte.

Instagram though... Can't imagine getting off of it anytime soon.

I didn’t for a couple of months and then I changed my phone. When I opened the app for the first time, I could no longer find the option to not accept the terms.

Nope. I refuse. It has stopped asking me as of late, though.

I deleted my Facebook account years ago. Friends and family remember to reach out when something important is happening. I'd highly recommend it.

Ditched Whatsapp the moment it was bought by Facebook.

Never accepted, but they stopped asking lately...

No, I always dismissed it until they had enough backslash and stopped pushing it. I still use whatsapp tho (along with Telegram)

I wonder if the prompt even does anything. I am sure whatsapp servers and facebook servers are like 10 feet from each other .

Still clicking away the once proposed dialogue of Whatsapp to give all my data away to Facebook. I have not accepted it!

No, but <~1m ago it stopped popping up... I really hope they didn’t incorrectly register my consent or anything

No, deleted WhatsApp and Moved to Signal.

I didn't have to because I'm German and very happy about that. Fuck FB!

I haven't accepted it. Fortunately I don't have to use WhatsApp much.

Yes, accidentally. I thought it would stop working if I disagree.

Yeah, I accepted it. Why, is there something bad in it?

No, but I have a family and my wife and kids may often be using my computer, thus it may be that one of them have accepted the terms and thereby everybody's data gets saved.

I wonder if Facebook and Google and the rest assume it is just one person they are dealing with or if the algorithms they've trained are smart enough to detect that there is a high chance that particular usage patterns strongly imply an individual user.

If so that is to say they have identified profile 1 and profile 2 but have only asked profile 1 for permission and received permission but then continue to store data for profile 1 and 2 and think they are disparate users - would this run afoul of GDPR?

Nope.. but it keep nagging every now an then

Here in the UK, I'm protected by the GDPR and by the Consumer Contracts Act.

I was coerced into choosing "Agree" (or whatever the button said) without any other practical option (I accidentally touched it when it appeared for the umpteenth time). I haven't given my consent and so they don't have permission to process my personal data except as strictly necessary to provide me with their messaging service. Whether I dismiss the nag prompt every time or just touch "Agree", the legal effect is exactly the same.

Don't have Facebook or WhatsApp.

I haven’t

Same.

I haven’t.

same here

We have a moral obligation to stop using facebook products.

Ask yourself where do you draw the line? If you don’t think facebook has crossed it, then you don’t know enough about facebook.

I never had either in the first place.