Consumer Federation of California

Flickr/Murasam3

It’s not just privacy advocates who are freaking out over Facebook’s decision to extract user data from its popular WhatsApp messaging service.

The move is also giving corporate America pause when it comes to setting up shop on the world’s biggest messaging platform.

Companies are worried about how it might affect their efforts to use the free messaging platform to communicate with customers while also protecting confidential corporate and customer data.

WhatsApp said earlier this year it would start testing business accounts as a way for banks, airlines and other businesses to send one-way messages to customers. That could mean a bank alerting you to a fraudulent transaction or an airline informing you about a delayed flight.

Businesses also envision wading deeper onto the platform with better tools, such as sending mass notifications and using “chat bots,” or artificial intelligence, to talk to customers.

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Tags: Facebook, Online Privacy, Privacy, WhatsApp