Want to prevent WhatsApp from sharing your phone number with Facebook? Here's how...

Messaging service WhatsApp updated its global privacy policy, under which it will now share phone numbers of users with its parent company, Facebook. For those who don't want to give away that information, here's what they can do...

Messaging service WhatsApp updated its global privacy policy, under which it will now share phone numbers of users with its parent company, Facebook. For those who don't want to give away that information, here's what they can do...

Keep in mind that this is totally avoidable in case you do not wish you share sensitive personal data like your phone number on Facebook. When you receive WhatsApp's notification of a change to its terms of service simply tap read and uncheck the option - "Share my WhatsApp account information with Facebook..."

In case you blindly agreed to the terms and conditions, don't fret. You can still disable the feature. iPhone users can disable it by going to Settings, then Account and unchecking the aforementioned option. Android users need to access their settings by tapping the triple dot icon on the top right corner of their menus, which contains the Account tab. They can then uncheck the option from there.

While the move will help Facebook offer more targeted advertisements on its own platform, WhatsApp will continue to be ad-free, a WhatsApp pokesperson told PTI.

Privacy advocates had raised concerns that Facebook would start mining WhatsApp accounts for data. However, both the companies have maintained that WhatsApp would operate separately from the parent company and that its user data would not be shared without users' consent. (Read more)

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