You told us: You won't accept WhatsApp's new terms when they go into effect

WhatsApp’s new terms and conditions made tech headlines earlier this year, as the company mandated that users had to accept these terms if they wanted to continue using the IM app. The new terms confirm that it will start sharing information with parent company Facebook, ignoring users that previously opted out of this practice. These terms also contain conflicting information compared to the firm’s own statements and FAQ.

The updated policy was supposed to go into effect on February 8 before WhatsApp pushed this date back to May 15. We wondered whether Android Authority readers would accept these terms, and here’s how you voted.

Will you accept WhatsApp’s new privacy terms?

Results

We posted the poll on February 19, and 1,060 votes were cast as of writing. It’s interesting to note that close to 16% of respondents said they would accept the new terms and conditions. Meanwhile, 15% of respondents said they had already quit the app.

Almost 70% of polled readers said they would not be accepting WhatsApp’s new terms though, presumably switching to Telegram, Signal, and other messaging options.

Of course, Android Authority readers might not reflect WhatsApp users at large, so it’s possible that your average smartphone user will agree to the new terms. But the poll still highlights our audience’s mistrust of the IM app and its parent company.

Comments

• DBS: It seems to me that WhatsApp hasn’t realised a crucial thing in this: PEOPLE DON’T BELIEVE A SINGLE WORD COMING FROM FACEBOOK. They sold themselves to the Devil…now they’re expecting people to believe His lies? Yeah, right. I won’t accept anything. I’ve already ditched the service. I will only consider going back IF Facebook is forced to sell off the company. My problem isn’t with company A or company B reading my messages. My problem is simple and has a name: Facebook.
• Smoked: Deleted Whatsapp, deleted Signal, going back to 160 character SMS.
• crazy123: There’s no choice but to accept the terms I guess. I might want to shift to another app but there are tons of other contacts who are reluctant to switch, or simply don’t care about this.
• AnySmarterIdRunLinux: Won’t use any FB spyware. Ever. Ever
• Joe Black: The only issue here is non-flexibility of huge amount of users to move to a different platform. But to be fair, since this Whatsup fiasco their development team actually fixed a ton of bug that had for years.

Thanks for voting in our poll and for leaving a comment! What are your thoughts on WhatsApp’s new terms? Let us know in the comments.