India has asked WhatsApp to pull back the planned change to its privacy policy, posing a new headache to the Facebook-owned service that identifies the South Asian nation as its largest user market.
In an email to WhatsApp manager Will Cathcart, the nation's IT ministry said that WhatsApp's planned update to its data sharing policy raised "serious concerns over the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens ... Therefore, you are called to withdraw the proposed changes. "
The ministry also asked WhatsApp for clarification about its data-sharing agreement with Facebook and other commercial companies and asked why users in the EU are exempt from the new privacy policy but their counterpoint in India has no choice but to comply.
"Such differentiated treatment is detrimental to the interests of Indian users and is viewed with serious concern by the government," the ministry wrote in the email, a copy of which was obtained from ProWellTech. "The Indian government has a sovereign responsibility to its citizens to ensure that their interests are not compromised and therefore calls on WhatsApp to respond to the concerns raised in this letter."
Through an in-app notice earlier this month, WhatsApp asked users to accept new terms of conditions that gave the app consent to share some personal data about them with Facebook, such as their phone number and location. . Users were initially provided until February 8 to comply with the new policy if they wanted to continue using the service.
"This" all or nothing "approach takes away any meaningful choice from Indian users. This approach takes advantage of the social importance of WhatsApp to force users to make a deal, which could violate their interests in relation to privacy and information security, "the ministry said in the email.
The WhatsApp notification has sparked a lot of confusion - and in some cases anger and frustration - among its users, many of whom have been exploring alternative messaging apps like Telegram and Signal in the past few weeks. WhatsApp, which Facebook bought for $ 19 billion in 2014, has been sharing some limited information about its users with the social media giant since 2016 and has allowed users to opt out for a while. Last week the Facebook-owned app, which serves more than 2 billion users worldwide, said it would postpone the implementation of the planned policy until May 15.
WhatsApp also ran front page announcements in several newspapers in India, where it amassed over 450 million users, last week to explain the changes and dispel rumors.
New Delhi also said it was reviewing the Personal Data Protection Bill, a monumental privacy bill that aims to control how user data is shared with the world. "Since the matter has been taken up by Parliament, making such a major change for Indian users right now puts the cart before the horse. As the Personal Data Protection Bill strongly follows the "purpose limitation" principle, these changes could lead to significant implementation challenges for WhatsApp should the bill become an act, "the letter states.
On Tuesday, India's IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "Whether it's WhatsApp, Facebook, any digital platform. You are free to do business in India but do it one way without infringing on people's rights. Indians operating there ".
➡️ Whether it is WhatsApp, Facebook or any other digital platform, they are free to do business in India, but it should be done one way without infringing on the rights of the Indians who run it. The sanctity of personal communications must be maintained: @rsprasad to # 15IDS pic.twitter.com/p33qynU6Ur
- RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) January 19, 2021
