If you’ve not made up your mind about whether to agree to Whatsapp’s new terms and privacy policy, you might be forced to arrive at a decision sooner than later.
It’s no longer news that WhatsApp users who don’t agree to the new terms and privacy policy by May 15, 2021, will lose access to their accounts permanently.
The initial deadline was set to February 8, 2021, but after receiving backlash from its global users and dealing with media scrutiny, Facebook decided to extend the deadline to May 15, 2021.
But even with the announcement of its new deadline, it looks like Whatsapp is ‘softly’ extending its grace period. According to Whatsapp’s FAQ section, by May 15th Whatsapp will offer limited functionalities to users who do not agree to its new terms and privacy policy. Users will be “able to receive calls and notifications” but they “won’t be able to read or send messages” anymore. During this period, Whatsapp’s policy related to inactive users will apply.
The policy, which was created for inactive WhatsApp users, states that a user’s account will be available for 120 days after which it will be automatically deleted by Whatsapp.
In light of this particular use case, during this period, users can still accept Whatsapp’s new terms or export their data or even delete their accounts by themselves.
While WhatsApp users can export their chat history prior to May 15, 2021, It is unclear if users who still don’t accept Whatsapp terms will be able to export their chat history after the deadline date.
