WhatsApp to share your Phone Number with Facebook: Here’s How to Stop it!

In a blog post Thursday, Global messaging service WhatsApp announced an update to its terms and privacy policy, the first in four years, and it's not for the better. WhatsApp says it will start sharing the phone numbers of its users with Facebook, its parent company.

That means WhatsApp users could soon start seeing more targeted ads on Facebook although not on the messaging service itself. According to Wired.com, this update will also allow Facebook to run analytics on user activity and send you friend requests for people you talk to on WhatsApp. 

Why the change?

The company says Facebook will employ the phone number internally to better identify WhatsApp users on Facebook, so it can recommend friends or show targeted advertising. The ads would come through a Facebook programme called "Custom Audiences," which lets a business upload lists of customers and phone numbers or other contact information the business has collected from warranty cards or other sources, reports International Business Times.

WhatsApp phone numbers are valuable to Facebook. While the social network already has many phone numbers, it doesn't require users to provide them, and doesn't always have the most current number for everyone on Facebook. But anyone on WhatsApp must provide a current phone number because that's how WhatsApp knows where to deliver messages.

How to Opt out?

WhatsApp's opt-out period is only 30 days long, so if you don't want your phone number shared with Facebook, opt out now before the window closes.

Option 1: Read the complete Terms and Conditions

When you update to the newest version of WhatsApp, you'll see a new set of terms and conditions. Once the app is done updating, the first screen in the process will come up. Don't tap "Agree" just yet! Scroll all the way down and uncheck the box that will share your WhatsApp info with Facebook.

Option 2: Change Your Settings

If you've already updated to the latest version and just breezed through the setup, go into your WhatsApp settings. Tap "Account." Here, you'll find a new option for "Share my account info" and a brief description of what checking the box means. Just uncheck that box and you are done.

Facebook has been looking for ways to make money from WhatsApp since it bought the service two years ago, in an eye-popping deal ultimately worth $21.8 billion. Still, It has pledged not to interfere with a longstanding promise with the WhatsApp's co-founders to respect users' privacy and keep ads off its messaging platform.