Government of India requested WhatsApp to remove its privacy policy update!
After the devastating introduction of their new privacy policy by WhatsApp, which prompted many Indians to turn to competitive alternatives like Telegram, Signal, etc. The Ministry of Technology of the Indian Government sent a letter to WhatsApp asking them to remove the update of the privacy policy as it takes away Indian users’ choices.
Weeks ago Whatsapp notified about their new policy changes which claims about the usage of the user’s data to other parental platforms like Facebook. We also covered a video based on that. You can find details in the video below.
This made many users to think and move to better alternatives. Last date to agree to new terms was also postponed by whatsapp to May 15 due to this back clash.
The Indian Government has now sent a letter to WhatsApp asking them to withdraw the privacy policy update, as it essentially deprives Indians of the option to give up their user data to Facebook if they want to use WhatsApp.
In the letter Technology Ministry added that,
“This differential and discriminatory treatment of Indian and European users is attracting serious criticism and betrays a lack of respect for the rights and interest of Indian citizens who form a substantial portion of WhatsApp’s user base.”
The government has put forward 14 questions in the letter to WhatsApp, asking them about their data collection practices and various other privacy related issues. WhatsApp is yet to respond to them.
In its letter to WhatsApp the government put 14 questions and asked them about their practises in data collection and various other issues relating to privacy. WhatsApp has yet to respond to them.
