RT:
WhatsApp is threatening users who violate its rules with lawsuits, even if the only evidence of “rule-breaking” exists outside of the Facebook-owned messaging app and the only judge is an AI.
“WhatsApp will take legal action against those we determine are engaged in or assisting others in abuse… even if that determination is based on information solely available to us off our platform,” the company warned in an ominous FAQ entry posted on Monday.
The source is RT, but the FAQ linked in the excerpt does say that. Would we want Kellogg's surveilling us to make sure we're using their corn flakes properly?
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Friday June 14 2019, @09:53PM
IIUC, the changes to the TOS are focused on groups spamming WhatsApp users.
Presumably, there is a profit motive there. If WhatsApp's actions make it less profitable (or unprofitable) to do so, those folks will vote with their feet.
And if they do this abusively, they will lose even more users. It's not like WhatsApp is the only game in town [jabber.at]. N.B. the preceding link are just public XMPP servers.
There are many other encrypted messaging platforms that aren't XMPP or called WhatsApp.
If the changes help WhatsApp and/or their users, WhatsApp wins. If it doesn't, there are many other choices.
So I'll say it again, so what?
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr