Review your WhatsApp Business data practices in 2026

Choose a completed customer request and trace it from the WhatsApp conversation to the final record. For an illustrative workshop order, follow the message, attachment, internal handover, status update and any exported copy. Record which people and systems handled it.

Compare that path with your last review. Has someone added a shared inbox, changed phones, enabled an AI assistant or started a broadcast campaign? Review after meaningful changes and at an interval suited to the business. The year in this guide is a review date, not a claim that a new law requires an annual WhatsApp audit.

Sample service updates and promotions separately. Compare the messages sent with the permission records and the purpose explained to the customer. Ask the responsible reviewer to assess any reliance on the limited existing-customer marketing route; an old enquiry alone does not settle it.

Test a customer’s request to stop promotional messages. Check the broadcast list, shared inbox, queued campaign and later contact import. Record whether the request was honoured throughout, rather than only whether a STOP button exists. Use current Regulator guidance for the legal assessment.

Review current users, linked devices and provider accounts against today’s staff responsibilities. Remove access that is no longer needed through the account owner’s process, and check who can export conversations or change sending settings.

Compare your automated replies and delayed updates with WhatsApp’s current policy. Its rules cover opt-in, approved templates outside the customer service window and a clear escalation path. Confirm that the person receiving escalations still owns that work; a staff change can leave a technically working inbox unattended.

Find where old attachments and chat exports remain. Compare these with your approved retention decisions, including any requirement to preserve a particular record. Practise finding and correcting a synthetic customer record across the systems you use.

For new providers or connected AI features, review actual data destinations and the applicable cross-border arrangements. Do not assume a local phone or local vendor means every copy stays in South Africa. Confirm that supplier terms and your customer-facing information still describe the current process.

Record the date, sample checked, evidence, gap, responsible person and next review trigger. Separate a confirmed failure from a question needing legal or supplier advice. For a suspected disclosure, use your incident assessment process rather than waiting for the next routine review.

Aitsa can help scope improvements to ownership, records and communication follow-through after a free initial conversation. Any detailed review or implementation is agreed separately. For a new integration, use the companion WhatsApp platform guide.