GLOBAL messaging service WhatsApp has announced that it would start sharing the phone numbers of its users with Facebook, its parent company.
Which means WhatsApp users could soon start seeing more targeted ads and Facebook friend suggestions on Facebook, based on WhatsApp information but not on the messaging service itself.
The move is a subtle but significant shift for WhatsApp, used by more than 1 billion people around the world.
When it was acquired by Facebook for an eye-popping $21.8bn (R313.22bn) two years ago, executives promised privacy would be safeguarded.
Centre for Digital Democracy director, Jeff Chester, said this is a strong-arm tactic on the part of Facebook.
“They continue on a campaign to run roughshod over our privacy rights,” Chester said.
WhatsApp is giving users a limited time to opt out of sharing their information with Facebook, although they must take the extra step of unchecking a box to do so.
WhatsApp also stated that Facebook won't post phone numbers online or give them out to anyone, but the giant social network has been looking for ways to make money from WhatsApp since it bought the service two years ago.
At the same time, Facebook has pledged not to interfere with a long-standing promise by WhatsApp's co-founders to respect users’ privacy and keep ads off its messaging platform.
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 users will be able to control or block such messages.
WhatsApp says it will continue to bar traditional display ads from its service.
WhatsApp last week offered a glimpse of its plans for turning on the money spigot, releasing new documents that describe the company's privacy policy and the terms of service that users must agree to follow.
The documents are the first revision of those policies since 2012, before Facebook acquired WhatsApp.