WhatsApp: What Happens If You Don’t Accept the New Terms?

May 15 is the new deadline for WhatsApp users to accept the updated terms of use on the platform. The original announcement was met with extreme resistance, and Facebook responded with a sort of “damage control” campaign, trying to explain the most controversial aspects. However, these terms will take effect one way or another, and millions of users are asking the same question: What will happen if you don’t accept the new WhatsApp conditions?

Facebook and WhatsApp: A Crisis of Trust

At the time of writing, Facebook has 2.8 billion active users and remains a comfortable Top 10 on Alexa. That number suggests its position is very healthy, but criticism of its overall model and business practices continues to grow. Since the Cambridge Analytica disaster onward, something definitely broke between Facebook and the public, and every time the social network plans to adjust its terms and conditions, the web trembles.

WhatsApp is the next battlefield. Facebook plans to modify its terms of use starting May 15 (the original date was February 8), confirming a more advanced integration between the messaging service and the social network’s structure. Facebook insists that it will never gain access to users’ conversations... but users have doubts, and given Facebook’s past, they are reasonable. That leaves us with a fundamental question: What will happen if we don’t accept the new WhatsApp conditions?

The New WhatsApp Terms: What Happens If We Don’t Accept?

WhatsApp announces it through a brief entry in its help center:

“If you didn’t accept them by then, WhatsApp will not delete your account. However, you won’t have access to all of WhatsApp’s features until you accept them. For a brief period, you’ll be able to receive calls and notifications, but you won’t be able to read or send messages from the app.”

In other words, rejecting the new terms puts WhatsApp into a kind of “zombie mode” with limited functionality. The inability to read and/or send messages essentially nullifies its function as a messenger, but that’s not all. The official publication also confirms that the inactive user policy will apply:

“In general, WhatsApp accounts that have been inactive for more than 120 days are deleted to maintain security, limit data retention, and protect user privacy. Inactivity is considered when the user does not connect to WhatsApp.”

It’s important to highlight the phrase “when the user does not connect to WhatsApp”. This suggests that zombie mode would be considered “activity” (since it will be possible to receive calls and notifications) as long as we open the app within 120 days.

In Short: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

The good news is that nobody will lose their account if they don’t accept the new terms before May 15. The bad news is that nobody learned anything. Beyond the millions of users who left the messenger, the protests on the web, and the complaints from privacy experts, we have a fairly solid idea of what will happen: The vast majority of users will prioritize the convenience, usefulness, and free nature of WhatsApp over its data collection, and will accept the terms. Personally, I’d prefer WhatsApp to return to its old model, paying one or two dollars a year. Today, that sounds like science fiction...