Innocent BenjaminWhatsApp is still reeling from the controversy generated from the new privacy conditions of the service which imply that the application will share data with Facebook, a decision that has forced the social media platform to back down and clarify all the details regarding the situation.
Yet the company remains defiant that every user has to accept these new terms to maintain a seamless running of the services on WhatsApp.
But what happens if you do not accept these new conditions? These will come into force on May 15, and affects every Nigerian utilising the application has a means of communication. The move has been termed a “forced” imposition by some quarters as WhatsApp will retaliate against users who do not accept the conditions.
This, in fact, is not disputed by the organisation themselves, who have detailed impending penalties awaiting “recalcitrants” in an official support document. It specifies that, if users do not accept the new conditions tomorrow, May 15, they will gradually be unable to use the application.
A Gradual Extermination
It must be clarified that if you do not accept the new conditions, you will not lose your WhatsApp account altogether. In addition, the ‘changes’ mentioned below will not happen immediately, but will be part of an even larger process to compel you to accept them. If you have already accepted these conditions, you do not have to do anything, as you are on the safe side.
The first thing that will happen if you refuse the conditions, is a barrage of romance and seduction from the Facebook-owned company. WhatsApp will send you periodic notifications explaining how these changes work.
This process has already been carried out by WhatsApp for some time, but since the administration of these fresh conditions, this strategy will be even more common and prevalent.
This will happen for an initial few weeks, after which, if you doggedly refuse to accept the conditions, the notification asking you to accept the WhatsApp conditions will turn less consenting, becoming permanently planted in your chat list. That is, you will not be able to access your list of chats, although through notifications it will remain possible to respond to messages and calls.
Later, after a new battery of weeks, WhatsApp will come recharged and will ultimately prevent access to your messages and calls. That is, you will still not lose your WhatsApp account, but it will be completely useless.
However, it is pertinent to put in mind that if your WhatsApp account remains unconnected to the Internet for a period of about 120 days, the account will likely be permanently deleted due to inactivity.
The update has brought many negative consequences to WhatsApp.
The application had to change its mind and correct that it would not completely delete the WhatsApp accounts of users who did not accept the conditions. In more damming circumstances, countries such as Germany and India have shown their resounding rejection of such changes.
In a consequential ripple effect, the bad popularity of these decisions have initiated a detrimental rise in popularity of WhatsApp rivals, including Signal and Telegram.
OFONIMEH JOHNSON
James steller
Mitrobe Staff