The messaging service WhatsApp will start sharing phone numbers and other data with Facebook Inc., a shift in policy after vowing little would change when the app was acquired by the social network less than three years ago.

In a blog post Thursday, WhatsApp said it was updating its terms of service and privacy policy for the first time in four years as part of its plan to let users communicate with businesses.

WhatsApp said coordinating with Facebook will allow it to analyze how people use its service, better fight spam and generally improve the service. Even as it shares information with Facebook, the company stressed, data won't be given to third parties such as advertisers.

"Even as we coordinate more with Facebook in the months ahead, your encrypted messages stay private and no one else can read them. Not WhatsApp, not Facebook, nor anyone else," the company said. "We won't post or share your WhatsApp number with others, including on Facebook, and we still won't sell, share, or give your phone number to advertisers."

Still, the move is likely to irk users who were skeptical when Facebook announced it was acquiring WhatsApp for $19 billion in February 2014. At the time, people questioned how Facebook would use customers' data to ramp up revenue, and what impact that would have on users' privacy. Shortly after the announcement, WhatsApp said " respect for your privacy is coded into our DNA," in a bid to stave off fears over the deal.

WhatsApp said users who signed up as of Aug. 25 have a 30-day window to opt out of sharing some account data with Facebook after accepting the new terms of service.

Facebook will now be able to recognize when someone is using its main service as well as WhatsApp. By sharing a phone number with Facebook, WhatsApp said, the social network can improve on friend suggestions and show you more relevant ads. By using more personalized data from Facebook, WhatsApp can better fight spam.

Other Facebook apps such as Instagram might use WhatsApp data in the same way. Facebook doesn't plan to integrate WhatsApp and its other messaging service, Messenger. WhatsApp steered users to an extended FAQ about the policy change.

Facebook is also testing ways users of its own Messenger service can connect with businesses, as it looks for ways to boost revenue from its stable of apps that count users in the hundreds of millions. WhatsApp had about 450 million users at the time of its acquisition; it now has more than a billion.

Write to Brian R. Fitzgerald at brian-r.fitzgerald@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 25, 2016 11:35 ET (15:35 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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