Groups remain private
“We use group membership to deliver messages and to protect our service from spam and abuse. We don't share this data with Facebook for ads purposes. Again, these private chats are end-to-end encrypted so we can't see their content,” the statement added.
WhatsApp said the policy change is to make the users' communication with businesses easier and better. "Messaging with businesses is different than messaging with your family or friends. Some large businesses need to use hosting services to manage their communication. Which is why we're giving businesses the option to use secure hosting services from Facebook to manage WhatsApp chats with their customers, answer questions, and send helpful information like purchase receipts. But whether you communicate with a business by phone, email, or WhatsApp, it can see what you're saying and may use that information for its own marketing purposes, which may include advertising on Facebook. To make sure you're informed, we clearly label conversations with businesses that are choosing to use hosting services from Facebook.”
The app said if a user choose to interact with Shops, the shopping activity can be used to personalise the Shops experience and the ads on Facebook and Instagram. “Features like this are optional and when you use them we will tell you in the app how your data is being shared with Facebook,” it clarified.