You’ll soon have to accept WhatsApp terms or be BLOCKED from using app

YOU’LL soon have to accept WhatsApp’s new terms or you’ll be blocked from using the app.

The delayed deadline to agree to Facebook’s controversial WhatsApp update starts ticking next week – and hitting ‘agree’ is mandatory.

WhatsApp is updating its terms – and you’ll have to agree by ‘several weeks’ after May 15

Facebook’s chat app has been trying to get users to accept the new policy for months.

But on May 15, the grace period ends – and you’ll need to accept the terms or be locked out of the app.

You won’t be blocked immediately: instead you’ll be prompted to accept, and then given “several weeks” to do so.

If you fail to accept, you’ll be locked out of accessing WhatsApp’s chat list.

Facebook rolled out the new terms in January through an in-app alert.

But it sparked mass panic on social media and led to a mass exodus to rival chat apps.

This is the new pop-up you'll see very soon that explains things more clearly — This is the new pop-up you’ll see very soon that explains things more clearlyCredit: Facebook / WhatsApp

Many users – reportedly numbering in the million – jumped ship amid fears over their privacy after it was misinterpreted that the agreement permitted the app to share more data with Facebook.

WhatsApp initially handed users a cutoff of February 8 to agree to the terms but pushed that back to May following fierce criticism online.

Soon after, an official email seen by TechCrunch revealed what users who shun the new policy are in store for.

According to the message sent to WhatsApp’s merchant partners, the California firm will allow users to review its update at “their own pace”.

WhatsApp said it will “slowly ask” users to comply with the new terms “in order to have full functionality of WhatsApp” starting May 15.

Those who decline the agreement – distributed via a pop-up – will be blocked from sending messages and could see their accounts shut down.

“For a short time, these users will be able to receive calls and notifications, but will not be able to read or send messages from the app,” the firm wrote in the note.

The Sun understands that the note accurately reflects WhatsApp’s plans going forward.

The “short time” refers to a period of a few weeks, according to TechCrunch.

In the note, WhatsApp linked to a new FAQ page on its website and said its policy on inactive users will apply to those who do not accept the terms.

According to the page, accounts deemed inactivate are “generally deleted after 120 days of inactivity.”

It follows a disastrous first attempt to push the new terms on users last month.

WhatsApp notified fans that it was preparing a new privacy policy, and that it reserved the right to share some user data with the Facebook app.

That sparked global outcries and a stampede of new users to competitor private messaging apps including Telegram and Signal.

Users had expressed concern that the alterations to WhatsApp’s terms of service put their personal data at risk.

Some claimed that the new rules give Facebook permission to read your private messages. WhatsApp strongly denies the accusations.

The company has stressed that the update is focused on allowing users to message with businesses, and that it will not affect personal conversations, which remain protected by end-to-end encryption.

“This update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook,” WhatsApp said in a statement last month.

“While not everyone shops with a business on WhatsApp today, we think that more people will choose to do so in the future and its important people are aware of these services.”

Facebook has been rolling out business tools on WhatsApp over the past year as it moves to boost revenue from the app.

Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19billion in 2014 and is still on the hunt for effective ways to make money from it.

The app already shares certain categories of personal data, including the user’s phone number and IP address, with Facebook.