I was wondering, Does Facebook have access to the contacts of someone who didn’t upload his contacts before to Facebook but he upload it to Whatsapp on his android device?
Of course it does, both Facebook and WhatsApp are owned by Meta.
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My theory is that this ^ is probably the biggest value that Facebook/Meta get from Whatsapp.
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In the EU, if you didn’t accept the 2021 privacy policy, in theory, WhatsApp isn’t allowed to share your WhatsApp data with its parent company, Meta, or any of its siblings, Instagram and Facebook.
But if there’s one company that has proven multiple times it doesn’t care about their own privacy policies and local legislation, that’s Meta. So I assume they already have and will keep sharing any data between any of their companies regardless.
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Would this only apply to those who were using the service Before 2021 AND never accepted the updated ToS? Or can users in the EU who join Whatsapp today, somehow get around agreeing to the ToS (practically and legally)?
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I did test that Facebook app uses your contacts from the Instagram or messenger app when it has access.
Way we tested this was using a new phone number
- Checked it on facebook.com/contacts/removal, no hits
- on a phone (iphone) set up contact with that number install messenger and Instagram app and grant it all permissions it asks for like a true warrior. But not actively allowing any contact upload anywhere
- waited 48 hours
- checked same removal site and it now contained the number and we could remove it.
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In theory, should it not be specified in their privacy policy, they can’t access your contacts. But knowing Meta, you can assume they definitely can and will access your contacts, along with other PIIs/metadatas.
No. That would only be if you were using the service before the 2021 changes and you ignored all their threats to accept or else they would close your account. New signups receive the new privacy policy