WhatsApp’s new policy change is becoming more controversial day by day. Business tycoons, social activists, and WhatsApp rivals have openly opposed the new changes. For the last few days, Under pressure, WhatsApp is clarifying the new policy through print as well as social media.
Now, the Indian Government has given a big jolt to WhatsApp. In a strictly worded letter to WhatsApp CEO, the ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY) has asked WhatsApp to withdraw the new policy change.
Indian Government Writes Letter to WhatsApp
In an official letter to Will Cathcart, CEO of WhatsApp, MeitY said that WhatsApp has the maximum user base in India. It is one of the biggest market areas for WhatsApp operations. WhatsApp is violating the freedom act of Indian citizens with the forced implementation of a new privacy policy. WhatsApp is not providing a choice to opt-out if required by a user.
MeitY has asked WhatsApp to reconsider its new policy change for data security and information privacy purposes.
It is known that in a recent blog post, WhatsApp has announced to delay the new privacy policies for 3 months. The company is still adamant to implement the policy.
Ministry further said that Indians should be respected. Unilateral change is not acceptable at all. It is not fair. The Government has further asked the company to submit the detailed operations going on in India. Not only the services, but the government has also asked the details about what kind of data WhatsApp is storing from Indian users.
Recently, there was news that WhatsApp has a different policy for different countries. It triggered the Indian Ministry more. The government has asked whether they have different policies for India and other countries. If so, why Whatsapp has such double standards?
“Are you capturing the data of other apps running on Users’ mobile? And what type of data you are extracting?, Ministry further asked.
WhatsApp updated privacy policy will allow Facebook and its network to use WhatsApp User data for business purposes. The company clarified that no user account or group data will be stored or used except WhatsApp business account data.
Indian ministry further reminded WhatsApp that it should follow the Indian Supreme Court Law related to privacy and protection of Users. Personal Data Protection Bill is the main priority of the Indian Government. WhatsApp can’t bypass the law.
Ministry pointed out that When you don’t give a choice to users, it becomes all or nothing approach. As per the latest reports, the ministry has asked WhatsApp to answer 14 major questions related to the current policy change. MeitY provided 7 days of time for a reply.
Different media portals and journalists contacted WhatsApp related to the MeitY letter. The company did not provide any comment on the issue.
WhatsApp New Privacy Policy Controversy
A few days back, WhatsApp sent notifications to more than 2 billion users about the new policy. Non-acceptance of the new policy will result in blocking the user account from 8 Feb 2021. It created an uproar among users and businesses.
Business tycoon Elon Musk requested his followers to use the Signal app. His tweet brought users flood over Signal. It became difficult for Signal to handle that many users with limited resources.
On the other hand, Telegram also achieved a good user base after the WhatsApp controversy, recently, the platform completed half a billion downloads. Later, WhatsApp postponed the new policy change from Feb to May to buy more time for users’ clarifications.
Business tycoons like PayTM CEO, Twitter CEO, and social activist Snowden openly criticized WhatsApp for its monopoly. Turkish President Erdogen and Brazil President Bolsonaro has also joined Telegram. Bolsonaro even requested his followers to join his telegram channel.
WhatsApp has a huge user base of more than 400 million in India. It can’t afford to lose India. Everyone is waiting for a WhatsApp reply to the Indian Ministry.
With a huge amount of pressure, it will be very interesting to see whether WhatsApp rollbacks its policy change or the company will justify its new policy.
