Democrats urge Facebook to reverse WhatsApp update

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Tuesday urged Facebook to reverse plans for a required update to its messaging platform subsidiary WhatsApp over concerns about data privacy.

WhatsApp is issuing an update to its terms and services as it allows users to talk to businesses on the platform.

WhatsApp has said that the update will not change its policies around keeping personal conversations encrypted, meaning Facebook and WhatsApp cannot read the messages.

But the Democrats wrote in a letter Tuesday that WhatsApp’s failure to commit to the same privacy policy for the messages with businesses is a “potential misuse of data,” and could lead to the use of that information for targeted advertising.