SAN FRANCISCO: Global messaging service 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.
The move is a subtle but significant shift for WhatsApp, which has long promised to safeguard the privacy of more than 1 billion users around the world.
WhatsApp is giving users a limited time to opt out of sharing their information with Facebook, although they must take the extra step of unchecking a box to do so.
It also says Facebook won’t post phone numbers online or give them out to anyone.
But the giant social network 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.
At the same time, Facebook has pledged not to interfere with a longstanding promise by WhatsApp’s co-founders to respect users’ privacy and keep ads off its messaging platform.
WhatsApp on Thursday offered a glimpse of its plans for turning on the money spigot, releasing new documents that describe the company’s privacy policy and the terms of service that users must agree to follow.
The documents are the first revision of those policies since 2012, before Facebook acquired WhatsApp.
One change follows through on previous hints by WhatsApp executives, who have said they’re exploring ways for businesses to communicate with customers on WhatsApp. That could include using WhatsApp to provide receipts, confirm a reservation or update the status of a delivery.
Companies could also send marketing offers or messages about sales to individual customers, according to the new documents, which note that users will be able to control or block such messages.
WhatsApp says it will continue to bar traditional display ads from its service.
“We do not want you to have a spammy experience,” the company tells users in a summary of the new policies.
Another change is potentially more controversial: WhatsApp says it will begin “coordinating” accounts with Facebook by sharing WhatsApp users’ mobile phone numbers and device information, such as the type of operating system and other smartphone characteristics.
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 program 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. Facebook matches the list to users with the same information and shows them ads.
Facebook says it doesn’t give out users’ information to advertisers.
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.
The coordination of accounts may draw fire from privacy advocates.
WhatsApp has long promised not to employ user data for advertising.
Its acquisition by Facebook two years ago sparked complaints from activists who worried the new owner would start mining WhatsApp accounts.
Though both companies pledged WhatsApp would operate separately from its parent, the Federal Trade Commission warned them publicly, in a 2014 letter, against changing how they employ WhatsApp user data without users’ consent.
WhatsApp says current users have up to 30 days to accept the new policy terms or stop using the service.
Once they accept, they have 30 more days to opt out of sharing with Facebook.
Privacy groups have praised WhatsApp for building powerful encryption into its services, making it impossible for the company or anyone else to read users’ messages.
WhatsApp promises that encryption will remain, so neither WhatsApp nor Facebook would be able to use message content for advertising purposes.
WhatsApp to share phone numbers with Facebook
WhatsApp to share phone numbers with Facebook
G7 countries to release oil reserves as IEA agrees to largest ever market intervention
- IEA recommends release of 400 million barrels
RIYADH: Germany, Japan and Austria will release part of their oil reserves after the International Energy Agency recommended the release of 400 million barrels of oil from stockpiles, the largest such move in IEA history.
In a statement, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the flow of oil, gas and other commodities through the Strait of Hormuz have all but stopped, leading global energy supply to fall by around 20 percent.
Ahead of the confirmation of the move — a larger intervention than the 182.7 million barrels that were released in 2022 by in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — several countries began setting out plans to bring their reserves into play as countries grapple with soaring crude prices amid the US-Israeli war with Iran.
Birol said: “I can now announce that IEA countries have decided to launch the largest ever release of emergency oil stocks in our agency's history.
“IEA countries will be making 400 million barrels of oil available to the market to offset the supply lost through the effective closure of the strait.
“This is a major action aiming to alleviate the immediate impacts of the disruption in markets.”
Germany’s Economy Minister Katherina Reiche confirmed on Wednesday her government plans to limit petrol price increases at filling stations to once a day and to introduce more stringent antitrust regulation of the sector.
She did not give an exact timing for those measures, but added that the US and Japan would be the largest contributors to the release of the oil reserves.
The US has not confirmed it would do so, but its Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox News on Wednesday that “these are the kinds of moments that these reserves are used for.”
The announcements did not stop oil prices rising, with Brent crude up 3.26 percent to $90.66 a barrel at 4:29 p.m Saudi time, and West Texas Intermediate up 3.12 percent to $86.05. Both were some way below the $119 a barrel seen earlier in the week.
“The situation regarding oil supplies is tense, as the Strait of Hormuz is currently virtually impassable,” Germany’s Reiche said.
“We will comply with this request and contribute our share, because Germany stands behind the IEA’s most important principle: mutual solidarity,” Reiche said about the IEA’s request.
According to a statement by Reiche’s ministry, Germany will contribute 2.64 million tonnes of oil. This corresponds to 19.51 million barrels.
Reiche stressed there was no supply shortage in the country, which has a legally mandated reserve of oil and oil products intended to cover 90 days’ demand.
South Korea will release 22.46 million barrels of oil, which represents 5.6 percent of the total IEA ask, the country's industry ministry said.
“The government will consult with the IEA secretariat on details, such as the timing and amount, from the perspective of national interests in accordance with domestic conditions,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said it would continue to coordinate closely with major countries in responding to high oil prices to minimise any domestic impact.
Austrian Economy Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer said his country was releasing part of the emergency oil reserve and extending the national strategic gas reserve, adding: “One thing is clear: in a crisis, there must be no crisis winners at the expense of commuters and businesses.”
Acting ahead of the IEA move, G7 member Japan announced plans to release 15 days' worth of private-sector oil reserves and one month's worth of state oil reserves.
“Rather than wait for formal IEA approval of a coordinated international reserve release, Japan will act first to ease global energy market supply and demand, releasing reserves as early as the 16th of this month,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in a broadcast statement.
Following a meeting with the IEA on Wednesday, G7 energy ministers said: “In principle, we support the implementation of proactive measures to address the situation, including the use of strategic reserves.”
All IEA member countries are required to keep 90 days’ worth of their nation’s oil use in reserve in case of global disruption.
