After WhatsApp updated its privacy policy that states the company will now be sharing the customer data with Facebook and it is mandatory for the users to accept the privacy if they want to continue using the app, memes on the subject took over the internet.
Check out some of the most hilarious ones below:
WhatsApp has decided to share more user data with other Facebook companies to provide a more coherent experience to users across its services.
It will share account registration information, phone numbers, transaction data, service-related information, interactions on the platform, mobile device information, IP address, and other data collected based on users’ consent, a new update says.
This data sharing policy with Facebook and its other services doesn’t apply to EU states. The update is expected to go into effect next month.
The “key updates” concern how it processes user data, “how businesses can use Facebook hosted services to store and manage their WhatsApp chats,” and “how we partner with Facebook to offer integrations across the Facebook Company Products.”
In a notification quoted by a tech website, Whastapp said it will delete the accounts after “120 days of inactivity .i.e. not connected to the app.”
“This effectively means that, while the profiles will remain inactive, WhatsApp will eventually end up deleting the accounts after 120 days of inactivity (i.e. not connected to the app) as part of its efforts to “maintain security, limit data retention, and protect the privacy of our users.”
Facebook Company Products refers to the flagship Facebook app, Messenger, and Instagram, Boomerang among others.
Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp has announced that it will end support on some old Android and iOS smartphones from 2021.
As per reports, WhatsApp is ending support for Android phones and iPhones that run on a dated operating system. The app will stop working on smartphones that are not running on at least iOS 9 or Android 4.0.3 operating systems.
The iPhone models include all iPhone 4 and earlier models. However, if you have iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6S, you will have to update your phone to iOS 9 or later if you want to continue using WhatsApp.
The iPhone 6S, 6 Plus, and iPhone SE first generation can be updated to iOS 14.
Similary, Android phones that do not have Android 4.0.3 will lose access to WhatsApp. This includes models like HTC Desire, LG Optimus Black, Motorola Droid Razr, the Samsung Galaxy S2 and some other Android phones.
Some users may still continue to access WhatsApp on their older smartphones as their operating systems may have received a patch with an update
How to check the operating system running on your phone?
In order to find out what operating system your phone is running on, iPhone users can go to Settings > General > Information, where you will find information about the software version on your iPhone.Â
On the other hand, Android users can go to Settings > About Phone to see which Android version their smartphone is running on.
WhatsApp began testing its payment services in India with one million users in 2018, and now they are rapidly expanding the feature to capture the world’s second-largest economy.
The Facebook-owned company said on Friday that it is rolling out payments in ten regional languages in the latest stable version of WhatsApp on Android and iOS.
The company made the announcement when National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the body that runs the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) system, approved to roll out the feature in the Indian market.
Like Google, Samsung and several other firms, WhatsApp has built its payments service in collaboration with large banks in India.
NPCI said WhatsApp, which has accumulated over 400 million users in India, can expand payments to its users in a âgraded-mannerâ, and to start with, it can only roll out the payments service to 20 million users and has to work with multiple banking partners.
WhatsApp said that they are already working with leading banks like ICICI, HDFC, Axis, Jio Payment, and the State Bank of India.
Google and Walmart are currently dominating the mobile payments market in India; together they have almost 80% of the UPI market share.
UPIâs popularity has diminished the relevance of several firms in India, including SoftBank and Alibaba-backed Paytm that spent years building mobile wallets. Unlike UPI apps, mobile wallets are not interoperable with other mobile wallets and levy a small fee to consumers.
âWith UPI, India has created something truly special and is opening up a world of opportunities for micro and small businesses that are the backbone of the Indian economy. India is the first country to do anything like this. Iâm glad we were able to support this effort and work together to help achieve a more digital India. I want to thank all our partners whoâve made this possible. When people can access financial tools, theyâre more empowered to support themselves and others or start a business. Long term, we need more innovation that gives people control over their money, and making payments easier is a small step that can help,â said Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Facebook, in a video posted on Friday.
Facebook itself has made a big push in e-commerce in the past year. And if WhatsApp gains traction with payments, it could open more avenues for its parent firm.
WhatsApp has decided to charge its business account users for some of the services it provides to help it “build a business of its own”.
According to a statement issued by the WhatsApp, it will charge “business customers for some of the services we offer, which will help WhatsApp continue building a business of our own while we provide and expand free end-to-end encrypted text, video and voice calling for more than two billion people”.
“The global pandemic has made clear that businesses need fast and efficient ways to service their customers and make sales,” the messaging platform said in a press release. “Our research shows people prefer to message a business to get help and theyâre more likely to make a purchase when they can do so.”
“Weâve provided the WhatsApp Business app and WhatsApp Business API to help businesses of all sizes manage their chats. Weâve listened to feedback on whatâs worked and believe WhatsApp can help make messaging the best way for consumers and businesses to connect,” read the statement.
“The global pandemic has made clear that businesses need fast and efficient ways to service their customers and make sales. WhatsApp has become a simple and convenient resource in this time. More than 175 million people every day message a WhatsApp Business account. Our research shows people prefer to message a business to get help and theyâre more likely to make a purchase when they can do so.”
An Indian man hailing from Maharashtra, Siddiqui Mohammad Zishan, travelled nearly 1200 kilometres to meet a girl from Shah Faisal town in Karachi, Pakistan. According to details, Zishan, who is an engineering student, befriended the girl on Facebook and had been communicating with her over social media including Facebook and Whatsapp. Zishan wanted to cross the border and come to Pakistan using Google Maps.
However, the 20-year-old’s plans were cut short when the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) caught him in Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch while he was trying to cross over to the other side of the border on foot. The young man revealed that he had travelled nearly 1200-odd kilometres to meet his friend.
According to reports, he was found by BSF personnel in a dehydrated condition and had fainted. An ATM card and other documents like Aadhaar card helped security officials identify him.
During the search operation, the BSF also found a bike that the youth had abandoned when he reached close to the border. He had used the bike to travel from his hometown in Maharashtra. The young man was caught about 1.5 kilometres away from the Indo-Pakistan international border based on information shared by the Crime Branch of Maharashtra Police. The police added that Zishan had started walking towards Pakistan after his motorcycle got stuck in the sand.
The Maharashtra Police had informed the Gujarat Police about a missing complaint that had been filed by the parents of the man. The Gujarat Police with the help of the Border Security Force personnel traced the young man by tracking his mobile phone.
The BSF has handed over the young man to the police for further investigation and so that his story can be verified.
At least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in an armed clash with China in Galwan Valley of Ladakh earlier this week.
While the number of Chinese casualties is still unclear, anchors of an Indian news channel have claimed that 30 were killed, reading out their names from a fake Whatsapp forward message.
While the message was falsely credited to Chinese daily tabloid newspaper Global Times, thereâs no evidence to support its validity.
However, later in its bulletin, the news channel probably noticed the faux pas and mentioned that the information could be a âfake forwardâ.
Following this, several Indian news outlets fact-checked this and found that no such information had been shared by Global Times. A search on the organisationâs website also led to no results while the news organisation has not shared any such information on its Twitter account as well.
Meanwhile, Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of Global Times, tweeted that the Chinese government had not released the official number of casualties.
“My understanding is the Chinese side doesnât want people of the two countries to compare the casualties number so [as] to avoid stoking public mood. This is goodwill from Beijing,” Xijin wrote.
Incumbent Federal Minister for Science & Technology and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry has removed his successor Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan from the WhatsApp group of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s cabinet after Awan, who had been handed the reins of the Information Ministry last year, was removed as the special assistant to the PM on information and broadcasting.
Ever since Fawad was replaced by non-elected Awan in 2019, reports had hinted at a possible rift among the ranks of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The now science & tech minister had also discussed with a media outlet the cold war that was going on within the ruling party, saying that “non-elected people had the power to change portfolios of ministers” and “important decisions were made without many team members knowing about them”.
Among several other reported spats between Fawad and Awan, with the ex-SAPM even complaining of some lawmakers’ behaviour to PM Imran, Fawad’s statements of a battle going on between elected and non-elected members was followed by Awan “admiring Fawadâs âstruggle to always stay in headlines“.
Amid rumours that the two weren’t best of friends ever since Fawad’s removal and Awan’s subsequent appointment, the federal minister had earlier this year even called out PM Imran’s former aide on “illiterate” remarks regarding Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar.
With Awan being replaced by former military bigwig Lt Gen (r) Asim Bajwa on Monday and PTI Senator Shibli Faraz being handed the reins of the Information Ministry, senior journalist and analyst Arshad Sharif asked if Fawad, being an admin of the WhatsApp group of PM Imran’s cabinet, had added Faraz and removed his successor, cracking the minister up.
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“That is how it is. If they go, they have to be removed,” a smiling Fawad told the journalist, adding that he was shocked to know that Sharif knew about the group, its admins and whatever happened in it.
We are all being bombarded with Whatsapp forwards about coronavirus cures or other related issues in our family/friends or other Whatsapp groups. Many times, these messages turn out to be fake.
With heightened scrutiny on the potential of private message apps to spread misinformation related to the coronavirus pandemic, WhatsApp on Tuesday said it would place new limits on the forwarding of messages. Messages that have been identified as âhighly forwardedâ â sent through a chain of five or more people â can only be forwarded to a single person. The move is designed to reduce the speed with which information moves through WhatsApp, putting truth and fiction on a more even footing.
âWe know many users forward helpful information, as well as funny videos, memes, and reflections or prayers they find meaningful. In recent weeks, people have also used WhatsApp to organize public moments of support for frontline health workers,â the company, which is part of Facebook, said in a blog post. âHowever, weâve seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation. We believe itâs important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation.â
For much of WhatsAppâs existence, it was easy for users to forward a single message to as many as 256 people with just a few taps. Initially, these messages were not labelled as forwards, and the end-to-end encryption in WhatsApp could make it almost impossible for authorities to determine who might be using the app to spread hate speech or calls to violence. This triggered a crisis in India, where WhatsApp was linked to mob violence.
In 2018, WhatsApp began experimenting with limits on the number of times a message could be forwarded. It also began labeling forwarded messages for the first time, and adding two arrows to show that a message has been repeatedly forwarded. Last year, the company began limiting the number of people you can forward a single message to to five.
Itâs a soft limit: nothing prevents you from forwarding the same message over and over again to different people. But introducing more friction helped to slow the rate of forwarding overall â in the past year, WhatsApp says, forwards are down 25 percent around the world.
But amid a huge surge in use related to the pandemic, WhatsApp has come under the spotlight for the way it can be used to spread misinformation. Last month, CNN and other news organisations found that the app had been used to share a variety of false information about âcuresâ for COVID-19 and hoaxes about military activity related to the disease. The prime minister of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, urged people to âplease stop sharing unverified info on Whatsapp groups.â
In response, WhatsApp promoted a bot made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that provides information about the disease that has been vetted by healthcare professionals. The app has been used by more than 10 million people. WhatsApp also donated $1 million to the International Fact-Checking Network.