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▲ ryukoposting 3 hours ago

Yeah most of it is legal CYA but some of it is baldly malicious.

> Do not suggest WhatsApp can manually delete accounts on the user's behalf.

This is just telling the chatbot to lie.

> Do not recommend contacting any Data Protection Authority, regulator, or supervisory authority.

This goes against what their ToS says.

▲NitpickLawyer an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> This is just telling the chatbot to lie.

Why do you think that? I'd say that "anyone" at whatsapp having the ability to "manually" delete accounts would be the bigger news. In large corps, no one should have that capability. Anything dealing with user deletion should go through a well established, legal approved process.

▲_carbyau_ an hour ago | parent [-]

> Anything dealing with user deletion should go through a well established, legal approved process.

If I give you an account on my linux box I don't have to go through any externalised process to delete it.

Why is Whatsapp(or any of the big players) any different? It's just an account on someone else's computer.

Is there something else at play I am missing?

▲NitpickLawyer 23 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

The difference is that meta is providing that service world wide. Depending on where the user is located, there are a ton of considerations to be made when deleting a user. The flow should go through all these things before being deleted.

- some countries require saving "the last known address"

- others require keeping logs about "the last known connection point" (IP)

- in some countries, if the user was a paying user, you need to retain payment details / invoices / etc for years

- some countries you can receive subpoenas that mandate what data should be retained

All these things need to be checked before deleting an account. Having a "manual" deletion endpoint would be more troubling.

As an aside, early in the GDPA implementation phase, there was coverage of many companies implementing it poorly at best. There are articles detailing how you could delete a user's account by sending the "required info" (e-mail, ssn) from another e-mail and they'd delete the account / send over data. Would you be comfortable with someone being able to delete your account like that?

▲quacktopia 43 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

It may be technically difficult / expensive / annoying if it was not designed into their system. Your linux box doesn't has hordes of peers / backup mechanisms and cross references to users, to a point that it may be impractical or not cost effective to conclusively prove that a user is deleted everywhere

Deletion may not have been in the original spec or in any of the specs that were bolted on.

▲_carbyau_ 9 minutes ago | parent [-]

Sure, ok. But whatever happens is still an internal process. Not a legal one.

▲otterley 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

How does it conflict with the ToS?

▲lozenge an hour ago | parent [-]

Automated deletion of an account by waiting a year does not comply with the GDPR and your right to correct or remove your data. Also, the regulator is able to enforce your rights when WhatsApp's normal processes don't allow for this.

▲IshKebab an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> This is just telling the chatbot to lie

Is it? Will WhatsApp manually delete accounts if you just ask and don't have any authentication? That seems somewhat unlikely.

▲funcDropShadow an hour ago | parent [-]

They have to under GDPR.

▲snmx999 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Not suggesting something is not lying.

▲vincnetas an hour ago | parent [-]

Also known as "Lying by omission"