The federal government has alerted Nigerians over Whatsapp privacy policy, the changes in the procedure and the implication on Nigerian users.
In a statement issued by its Head, Corporate Affairs, Mrs Hadiza Umar, the National Information Technology Development Agency provided advisory to Nigerians to address their concerns on changes to Whatsapp privacy policy.
According to Umar, the Agency collaborated with the African Network of Data protection authorities. It engaged Facebook incorporated, the owners of the WhatsApp platform, to understand the issues regarding the policy and how it affects the privacy rights of Nigerians.
The Agency noted that Whatsapp shares some information with the Facebook company, including account registration information, details on how users interact with others, mobile device information, internet protocol address, and location data.
NITDA further explained that the Facebook Team confirmed that private messages shared on the Whatsapp consumer version are encrypted and not seen by the company. Meanwhile, the Agency said the data about the usage of the service is shared with members of the Facebook group.
Whatsapp Privacy Policy
Umar opined that acceptance of the new Whatsapp private policy implies that the platform would share user data with Facebook and other third parties.
However, the NITDA advised Nigerians to consider other available platforms with similar functionalities as Whatsapp. The Agency urged Nigerians to limit sensitive personal information on private messaging and social media platforms.
