WhatsApp with consent: Are you informed?

ONLINE debates have been sparked upon the realisation that "authorised police officers may invoke Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) powers to request users to upload their TraceTogether (TT) data for criminal investigations". This debate was not centred on whether the police can or cannot use TT data. Ultimately, the CPC empowers the Singapore Police Force to obtain any data. The real issue was whether or not the public had been explicitly informed of its potential for such use.

On Jan 4, 2021, WhatsApp, from Facebook, updated its Privacy Policy and proceeded to notify users that from Feb 8, 2021, new terms and conditions will come into force. These terms must be agreed to prior to the date of effect in order for users to be able to continue using the services. If you do not accept these terms and conditions, your account will be terminated.

Perhaps you are aware of this seemingly mundane and regular change, perhaps not. You may have received an innocuous pop-up window, which lured you to click on the bright green "Agree" button. You may not even recall having done so. What is the big deal? More dramatically, why did Elon Musk call on his Twitter followers to "Use Signal" a few days after this policy update?