Shocked by WhatsApp ban plans? After fierce controversy, app DEFEATED, beats a retreat - check update

WhatsApp shocked everyone when it took a very controversial stand against its users, asking them to accept rules that were clearly very disputable. After a huge row broke out, WhatsApp has finally taken a U-turn, in fact, it has beaten a retreat. To recap, WhatsApp’s new Terms of Service and privacy policy created quite an uproar at the beginning of this year. The bone of contention was that WhatsApp app was forcing its users to accept its new and updated Terms of Service. At the time, WhatsApp had said that users accounts could be banned from their accounts or lose access to various features in the app, if they didn’t accept its new terms.

WhatsApp took a small step back after this announcement had triggered a row across the country. It said that it won’t delete the accounts of the users who had not accepted its new Terms of Service. “Due to this update, no user's WhatsApp account will be deleted on May 15, nor will anyone's WhatsApp stop working,” WhatsApp wrote in the FAQ section of its official website. “Most of the users have read and accepted this update. We will continue to show a notification on WhatsApp with more details about this update. Also, we'll keep reminding those who haven't read and accepted the update yet. We currently have no plans to send these reminders to users on a regular basis and limit their use of the app,” the company added.

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Now, the latest word is that WhatsApp is planning to make accepting its new Terms of Service optional. WABetaInfo reports that WhatsApp will soon announce that users will still be able to use WhatsApp to chat with their friends and family without accepting the updated Terms of Service. The catch is that WhatsApp will make it optional to accept these Terms of Service.

“We can finally announce that they will be optional with a future update but, if you want to send a message to business accounts that use cloud providers, you won’t be able to message them if you don’t accept the terms,” the blog site wrote on its page.

WhatsApp users will not get a nudge to accept the updated Terms of Service when interacting with other users. But it will be presented when a user wants to message a business account. “If you want to chat with a business account that uses cloud providers, you will have to review and accept the terms,” the blog site added.