T he Government of India on Tuesday asked Facebook-owned WhatsApp to withdraw the recent changes in the privacy policy of the messaging app, saying unilateral changes are not fair and acceptable. Sources in the government say that the IT Ministry raised concerns over information security of Indian WhatsApp users.
The platform’s new policy says that it will share with other Facebook-owned companies the Metadata of users’ chats with WhatsApp Business accounts. This would create a honey pot of information about users, thus bringing in security risks and vulnerabilities. The ministry further objected to the ‘all-or-nothing’ approach of WhatsApp that forces users to accept the new service terms and privacy policies without giving an option to opt-out of this proposed change.
The government reminded WhatsApp about the principles of privacy and consent laid down by the Supreme Court in the Puttaswamy vs Union of India (2017) judgement. Sources say that the ministry has further asked WhatsApp as to why they have brought about such significant changes when the Parliament is already considering the Personal Data Protection Bill. It also raised the issue of the differential privacy policies for the European Union and India.
The Government of India has also sent a list of 14 questions to WhatsApp seeking response on various privacy and data security concerns. The government has sought details of the services provided by WhatsApp in India, the exact categories of data it collects from Indian users, permission and consent required by different versions of the application, and whether the same is sought from users in other countries. Some of the other queries include whether WhatsApp conducts profiling of Indian users on the basis of their usage, the difference in privacy policy in India and other countries, and whether the application captures the information about other apps running on the mobilephone of the user.
Earlier this month, the messaging app updated its terms of service and informed users that information from interactions with businesses will henceforth be shared with Facebook and the businesses themselves. As per the new terms of service, WhatsApp may use the information to “operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support and market” its services and offerings to users.
WhatsApp has reiterated that personal conversations do not figure in this. Amid worldwide backlash, last Friday the app decided to postpone its data-sharing policy change to 15 May after users concerned about privacy flocked to rivals Telegram and Signal. The app, a huge hit across the world, cancelled its 8 February deadline for accepting the update to its terms concerning sharing data with Facebook, saying it would use the pause to clear up misinformation around privacy and security.
WhatsApp is legally bound to not share data with Facebook in the European Union because it’s against the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR is a regulation in the European Union law on data protection and privacy in the European Union and the European Economic Area. As the controversy rages on, encrypted messaging app Telegram has seen user ranks surge on the heels of the WhatsApp service terms announcement.
The Dubai-based app surpassed 500 million active users and in the past 72 hours alone, more than 25 million new users from around the world joined the platform.
Another encrypted messaging app Signal has also seen a huge surge in demand, helped by a tweeted recommendation of billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.
