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WhatsApp Is Going to Share Your Phone Number With Facebook

WhatsApp Is Going to Share Your Phone Number With Facebook 5g2x50

By The Associated Press | Updated: 31 August 2016 11:54 IST

Highlights

Facebook won't post phone numbers online or give them out to anyone
WhatsApp will continue to bar traditional display ads from its service
Facebook will employ the phone number to show targetted advertising

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Global messaging service WhatsApp says it will start sharing the phone numbers of its s with Facebook, its parent company. That means WhatsApp s could soon start seeing more targeted ads on Facebook - although not on the messaging service itself. 18e25

The move is a subtle but significant shift for Facebook, although they must take the extra step of unchecking a box to do so. It also says Facebook won't post phone numbers online or give them out to anyone.

(Also see: WhatsApp Now Has 1 Billion Monthly Active s)

But the giant social network has been looking for ways to make money from WhatsApp since it bought the service two years ago, in an eye-popping deal ultimately worth $21.8 billion. At the same time, Facebook has pledged not to interfere with a longstanding promise by WhatsApp's co-founders to respect s' privacy and keep ads off its messaging platform.

WhatsApp on Thursday offered a glimpse of its plans for turning on the money spigot, releasing new documents that describe the company's and the of service that s must agree to follow. The documents are the first revision of those policies since 2012, before Facebook acquired WhatsApp.

One change follows through on previous hints by WhatsApp executives, who have said they're exploring ways for businesses to communicate with customers on WhatsApp. That could include using WhatsApp to provide receipts, confirm a reservation or update the status of a delivery.

Companies could also send marketing offers or messages about sales to individual customers, according to the new documents, which note that s will be able to control or block such messages. WhatsApp says it will continue to bar traditional display ads from its service.

"We do not want you to have a spammy experience," the company tells s in a summary of the new policies.

Another change is potentially more controversial: WhatsApp says it will begin "coordinating" s with Facebook by sharing WhatsApp s' mobile phone numbers and device information, such as the type of operating system and other smartphone characteristics. The company says Facebook will employ the phone number internally to better identify WhatsApp s on Facebook, so it can recommend friends or show targeted advertising.

(Also see: WhatsApp Becomes Free, Drops Annual Subscription Fee)

The ads would come through a Facebook program called "Custom Audiences," which lets a business lists of customers and phone numbers or other information the business has collected from warranty cards or other sources. Facebook matches the list to s with the same information and shows them ads. Facebook says it doesn't give out s' information to rs.

WhatsApp phone numbers are valuable to Facebook. While the social network already has many phone numbers, it doesn't require s to provide them, and doesn't always have the most current number for everyone on Facebook. But anyone on WhatsApp must provide a current phone number because that's how WhatsApp knows where to deliver messages.

The coordination of s may draw fire from privacy advocates. WhatsApp has long promised not to employ data for advertising. Its acquisition by Facebook two years ago sparked complaints from activists who worried the new owner would start mining WhatsApp s. Though both companies pledged WhatsApp would operate separately from its parent, the Federal Trade Commission warned them publicly, in a 2014 letter, against changing how they employ WhatsApp data without s' consent.

WhatsApp says current s have up to 30 days to accept the new policy or stop using the service. Once they accept, they have 30 more days to opt out of sharing with Facebook.

Privacy groups have praised WhatsApp for building powerful encryption into its services, making it impossible for the company or anyone else to read s' messages. WhatsApp promises that encryption will remain, so neither WhatsApp nor Facebook would be able to use message content for advertising purposes.

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