PRESS RELEASE
17th May, 2021

PUBLIC ADVISORY

WHATSAPP PRIVACY CHANGE: IMPLICATIONS FOR NIGERIAN USERS#BeCyberSmart pic.twitter.com/QRLbtrjoOH

— NITDA Nigeria (@NITDANigeria) May 18, 2021

This is contained in the statement released on Monday titled ‘Whatsapp privacy policy changes: Implication for Nigerian users.’ It was signed by the Head of Corporate Affairs and External Relations at the agency, Hadiza Umar.

The statement acknowledged that Whatsapp users were free to decide whether they want to give their consent to the processing of their data based on the new privacy policy.

“The Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) recognises consent (a clear, unambiguous expression of privacy terms communicated by the controller and accepted by the Data Subject) as one of the lawful basis for data processing.

Acceptance of the new privacy policy and terms of use implies that user data would now be shared with Facebook and other third parties,” the statement said.

The agency urged Nigerians to explore other messaging platforms beyond Whatsapp and advised that sharing sensitive personal information on private messaging and social media platforms be limited, given WhatsApps affiliation to Facebook and its history with user data sharing.

The agency added that it would continue engaging with Facebook as they “have given them our opinion on areas to improve compliance with the NDPR. We have also raised concerns as to the marked difference between the privacy standard applicable in Europe, under the GDPR and the rest of the world.”

Since 2016, WhatsApp’s privacy policies have permitted the application to share metadata such as user phone numbers, device information, and location, among others, with Facebook.

Facebook argues it uses the metadata to provide targeted advertisements to its users although experts argue the company is exploiting user data.

Privacy is at the heart of Facebook’s recent tussle with Apple over its news iOS update. Apple wants to give its costumers more control over how they share data with apps on their phones, while Facebook argues that the new iOS update will interfere with the company’s ability to provide targeted ads across its platforms.

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