Privacy Policy of Whatsapp

WhatsApp updated its privacy policy and terms of service, expanding how the messaging platform will share user data with other Facebook-owned and third-party apps.

The update comes with a condition that if the user refuses to share data with Facebook, they will have to quit WhatsApp.
Status, group names and icons, frequency and duration of activities, and whether a user is online information will all continue to be held by WhatsApp.
Beyond this, the platform will collect data from the new payment feature, including processing method, transactions and shipment data. It will also collect and share location, device model, operating system, battery level and browser details.
The updated WhatsApp terms will help Facebook and connected third-party apps to exploit user data for commercial gain, including personal data, breaching user’s privacy
The personal data could also result in the micro-targeting of propaganda and hate messages through Facebook.
The privacy policy lacks clarity and fails to shed light on how data from Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram is being combined, and who it is being made available to.

Concepts in technology such as data mining, technology addiction, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and surveillance capitalism can be misused and can pose serious threats to privacy
Social media is a “useful service that does lots of good with a parallel money machine.”
Social media has many beneficial qualities; it includes the facilitation of interpersonal connection across long distances, acquiring knowledge, and even finding organ donors.
But, user data can be used to build models to predict user actions and how companies keep user attention to maximize the profit from advertisements.
Manipulation techniques are used by social media companies to addict their users and the psychology that is leveraged to achieve this end. This often leads to increased depression and increased suicide rates among teens and young adults.
User actions on online platforms are watched, tracked, measured, monitored, and recorded. Companies then mine this human-generated capital to increase engagement, growth, and advertising revenue.
“Disinformation-for-profit business model” companies make more money by allowing unregulated messages to reach anyone for the best price. Ex: flow of fake news regarding COVID-19 and propaganda that can be used to influence political campaigns.

Increase in hospitalizations for teenagers due to self-harm, beginning in 2010-2011. This spike is due to the great amount of time spent on social media because people have the tendency to check social media as often as they can and the psychological effects it has on the brain. If a user is feeling distressed, the media can release dopamine into the brain, and they eventually find themselves dependent upon it. The release of dopamine makes technology work similar to addictive drugs, such as alcohol or nicotine.
There is a phenomenon of patients wanting to receive plastic surgery in order to look more similar to a picture with a filter on it due to ‘Snapchat Dysmorphia’. This can lead to a body dysmorphic disorder and the lowering of one’s self-esteem.
The practice of using positive intermittent reinforcement in media development to keep users’ attention for longer periods of time.
People are highly likely to believe false information on the Internet, such as conspiracy theories, affecting off-screen behaviour and lives. False information on Twitter spreads six times faster than true information, according to a study, because people have a greater emotional reaction towards fake news.
64% of the people in extremist groups on Facebook, joined these groups because their algorithms lead them there. Algorithms push content that ignites outrage, hate, and amplifies biases within the data that is shown to them.

The draft law on data protection by the Srikrishna Committee takes into account three aspects in terms of data – the citizens, the state and the industry.
The draft bill notes that “the right to privacy is a fundamental right”.
Personal data: Data from which an individual can be identified like name, address etc.
Sensitive personal data (SPD): Some types of personal data like as financial, health, sexual orientation, biometric, genetic, transgender status, caste, religious belief, and more.
Critical personal data: Anything that the government at any time can deem critical, such as military or national security data.

Today Current Affairs Upsc Exam Syllabus & Previous Yearpaper.