Effective March 31, 2025
WhatsApp in Accounts Centre Supplemental Privacy Policy
About your information if you add your WhatsApp account to Accounts Centre
You can choose to add your WhatsApp account to an Accounts Centre with other Meta Company Product accounts to enable data sharing for features that work across these products (“WhatsApp in Accounts Centre”).
WhatsApp in Accounts Centre is entirely optional. You can remove your WhatsApp account from an Accounts Centre at any time in your WhatsApp or Accounts Centre Settings. Learn more on how to remove your WhatsApp account from an Accounts Centre.
What does this WhatsApp in Accounts Centre Supplemental Privacy Policy cover?
If you live in the European Region, this supplemental privacy policy (“WhatsApp in Accounts Centre Privacy Policy”) explains how we collect and use your information when you choose to add WhatsApp to an Accounts Centre with other accounts. When we say “WhatsApp”, “our”, “we” or “us”, we are referring to “WhatsApp Ireland Limited”.
This WhatsApp in Accounts Centre Privacy Policy supplements the WhatsApp Privacy Policy which applies to the use of all our Services including WhatsApp in Accounts Centre. Any capitalised terms used but not defined in this WhatsApp in Accounts Centre Privacy Policy are defined in the WhatsApp Privacy Policy. If there is any conflict between this WhatsApp in Accounts Centre Privacy Policy and the WhatsApp Privacy Policy, this WhatsApp in Accounts Centre Privacy Policy will apply to WhatsApp’s use of your information when you add WhatsApp to Accounts Centre.
WhatsApp in Accounts Centre allows you to add your WhatsApp account to an Accounts Centre to enable features and experiences across your accounts for Meta Company Products which you have added to the same Accounts Centre. For example: you may use your login information from one account to log into your other accounts, share content across products, and see personalised experiences such as personalised content and suggestions, including ads if Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (“Meta Ireland”) shows you ads on Meta Products like Facebook or Instagram.
Does this affect my WhatsApp messages?
When you add your WhatsApp account to an Accounts Centre with other Meta Company Product accounts, this does not impact the privacy of your WhatsApp personal messages or calls, which continue to be end-to-end encrypted as described in the WhatsApp Privacy Policy and won’t be shared with Meta Ireland or any other Meta company. The same goes for any information that we process to convey, or that provides information about, your messages or calls (such as who you communicate with, the time and date you make a call or send a message, and the duration of your calls) as well as your contact list.
Information We Collect for WhatsApp in Accounts Centre
The WhatsApp Privacy Policy describes information we collect on our Services. When you add WhatsApp to an Accounts Centre with other Meta Company Product accounts, we also collect the information described below which is supplemental to the categories of Information We Collect described in the WhatsApp Privacy Policy:
Automatically Collected Information
Device and Connection Information
If you choose to add your WhatsApp account to Accounts Centre, we will collect device and connection-specific information such as a unique ID created every time you use WhatsApp in Accounts Centre.Log and Troubleshooting Information
We collect information about how WhatsApp in Accounts Centre is performing, like service-related, diagnostic and performance information. This information includes log files, timestamps, crosspost status activity and metrics, error events and other performance logs.
Information Meta Companies Provide About You
To enable you to use cross-app experiences when you add your WhatsApp account to an Accounts Centre with other Meta Company Product accounts, such as single sign on for your WhatsApp account, sharing a Facebook story to your WhatsApp Status or sharing your WhatsApp Status as a story on Instagram, we receive information from Meta Ireland.
This includes:
- account information such as identifiers related to the Facebook or Instagram accounts you are linking to or cross-posting information to;
- age information received from Meta Ireland if you add your WhatsApp account to an Accounts Centre with other Meta Company Product accounts to determine whether you are eligible to use WhatsApp in Accounts Centre and Meta Company Products generally (including WhatsApp);
- user content such as a Facebook or Instagram story if you decide to share your story as a status on WhatsApp; and
- device and connection information required to connect your Facebook or Instagram accounts to your WhatsApp account.
Information Shared by You and by WhatsApp with Meta Companies to enable You to use WhatsApp in Accounts Centre
In addition, when you add your WhatsApp account to an Accounts Centre with other Meta Company Product accounts, we will share information with Meta Ireland:
- Information We Collect (supplemented with Information We Collect for Channels if you use WhatsApp Channels) and Information We Collect for WhatsApp in Accounts Centre . This includes:
- Account information such as your phone number and your WhatsApp profile picture (to e.g. display it on your Accounts Centre Settings).
- Age Information: to determine whether you are eligible to use WhatsApp in Accounts Centre and Meta Company Products generally (including WhatsApp).
- User Content such as your WhatsApp status, if you decide to share your status updates on Facebook or Instagram.
- Device and Connection Information such as your app version or your set language in WhatsApp and other information.
- Usage Information information on how you use our Services such as how many times you share your WhatsApp status on Facebook or Instagram.
When you add your WhatsApp account to an Accounts Centre with other Meta Company Product accounts, Meta Ireland will use your information as described in the Meta Privacy Policy to do things like provide, personalise and improve its products and services, including to show you ads (if Meta Ireland shows you ads) on Meta Products like Facebook or Instagram and to promote safety, security and integrity. You can find out about how to exercise your rights when Meta Ireland is using your information for these purposes in the What is our legal basis for processing your information, and what are your rights? section of the Meta Privacy Policy. Meta Ireland’s own terms and privacy policy will govern your use of Meta services and products. To add WhatsApp to an Accounts Centre with other Meta Company Product accounts, you must be above the digital age of consent in your country. The information Meta Ireland receives when you add your WhatsApp account to an Accounts Centre may include data that was collected when you were below the digital age of consent in your country.
Joint processing by WhatsApp and Meta Ireland
When you add your WhatsApp account to an Accounts Centre with other Meta Company Product accounts, WhatsApp Ireland and Meta Ireland are joint controllers for the purpose of associating the accounts you have added to an Accounts Centre with each other (“Joint Processing”).
The Joint Processing is based on your consent (see below at How and Why We Process Information and Our Legal Basis For Processing) and you can withdraw your consent to processing by both controllers at any time by removing your WhatsApp account from the Accounts Centre.
WhatsApp and Meta Ireland have agreed that WhatsApp is responsible for enabling you to exercise your rights under the GDPR with regard to the Joint Processing (please see below at How to Exercise your Data Subject Rights).
How and Why We Process Information and Our Legal Basis For Processing
We rely on different legal bases to process your information for the purposes described in this WhatsApp in Accounts Centre Privacy Policy.
For each legal basis below, we describe the purposes of our processing (why we process your information) and our processing operations (how we process your information to achieve each purpose). We also list the categories of your information that we process for each purpose. These categories are described in the Information We Collect for WhatsApp in Accounts Centre section and the Information We Collect section of the WhatsApp Privacy Policy (supplemented with Information We Collect for Channels if you use WhatsApp Channels).
You also have particular rights available to you depending on which legal basis we use. You should know that no matter what legal basis applies, you always have the right to request access to, rectification of, and erasure of your information. To exercise your rights, see the How To Exercise Your Rights section in the Privacy Policy.
The following information supplements the information provided in the How and Why We Process Information and Our Legal Basis For Processing section of WhatsApp’s Privacy Policy.
Processing necessary to perform our contract with you
For all users who have the legal capacity to enter into an enforceable contract (for example, by being the age of majority or above in their country of residence), we process information as necessary to conclude and perform our contract with you, our Terms.
The categories of information used and why and how they are processed, are set out below:
How And Why We Process Your Information | Information Categories Used |
To provide you with WhatsApp in Accounts Centre and facilitate the functioning of features and experiences on WhatsApp, such as:
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Your Consent
We process information for the purposes described below when you have given us your consent to enable particular product features. The categories of information used and why and how it’s processed, are set out below:
How And Why We Process Your Information | Information Categories Used |
If you decide to add your WhatsApp account to an Accounts Centre with other Meta Company Products accounts:
Learn more about information Meta shares with WhatsApp when you choose to add a WhatsApp account to an Accounts Centre with other Meta Company Product accounts in the Meta Privacy Policy |
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When we process your information based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing by removing your WhatsApp account from Accounts Centre in your WhatsApp or Accounts Centre Settings. Learn more on how to remove your WhatsApp account from an Accounts Centre.
Legitimate Interests
We rely on our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third-party, such as our users, where they are not outweighed by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms ("legitimate interests"):
Why And How We Process Your Information | Legitimate Interests Relied On | Information Categories Used |
For users under the age of majority (under 18, in most applicable countries) who have a limited ability to enter into an enforceable contract only, where we may be unable to process your information on the grounds of contractual necessity. | ||
To provide you with WhatsApp in Accounts Centre and facilitate the functioning of features and experiences on WhatsApp, such as:
| It is in our interest and in the interests of all WhatsApp users under the age of majority to be able to provide users with WhatsApp in Accounts Centre and facilitate the functioning of features and experiences on WhatsApp | To provide users with WhatsApp in Accounts Centre:
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For all users of our Services including users under the age of majority: | ||
To improve our Services, including WhatsApp in Accounts Centre, such as:
| It is in our interest and in the interest of WhatsApp users to evaluate the use of the services and adoption of new features to inform the development of future features and improve product direction and development. |
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You have the right to object to, and seek restriction of, this processing. To exercise your rights, see the How To Exercise Your Data Subject Rights section. | ||
How to Exercise your Data Subject Rights
You can find information about how you can exercise your rights under the GDPR in the WhatsApp Privacy Policy under the How To Exercise Your Rights in the WhatsApp Privacy Policy.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with WhatsApp's lead supervisory authority under the GDPR, the Irish Data Protection Commission, or any other competent data protection supervisory authority.
Managing And Retaining Your Information
- Retention of Information Collected for WhatsApp in Accounts Centre. We store Information We Collect for WhatsApp in Accounts Centre for as long as necessary to provide our Services or for other legitimate purposes such as complying with legal obligations, enforcing and preventing violations of our Terms, to fight spam or protecting or defending our rights, property and users.
- The storage periods are determined on a case-by-case basis. Learn more about how we decide how long to keep information in our WhatsApp Privacy Policy.
- When you remove your WhatsApp account from an Accounts Centre, the information used to associate it with other Meta Company Product accounts will be deleted within 90 days, unless we need to keep it for a specific reason such as resolving specific technical issues, or legal reasons such as complying with legal obligations, enforcing and preventing violations of our Terms, fighting spam or protecting or defending our rights, property and users.
Transferring Information outside the EEA as part of Our Global Operations
In order to provide you with WhatsApp in Accounts Centre, we share the Information We Collect for WhatsApp in Accounts Centre globally to provide and operate these features. You can find information about why and how we safeguard your information in the Transferring information outside the EEA as part of Our Global Operations section of the WhatsApp Privacy Policy.
Updates To the WhatsApp in Accounts Centre Privacy Policy
We may amend or update this WhatsApp in Accounts Centre Privacy Policy. We will provide you notice of amendments or updates as appropriate, and update the Effective date at the top. Please review our WhatsApp in Accounts Centre Privacy Policy from time to time.
Contact Us
The Data Protection Officer for WhatsApp can be contacted here.
If you have questions about this WhatsApp in Accounts Centre Privacy Policy, please contact us or write us here:
WhatsApp Ireland Limited
Attn: Privacy Policy
Merrion Road
Dublin 4
D04 X2K5
Ireland