Govt puts WhatsApp on notice as firm imposes curbs on users

Govt puts WhatsApp on notice as firm imposes curbs on users

Pankaj.Doval@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:20.05.2021 

WhatsApp started limiting functionalities and shutting down chat room and app access for many who refused to agree to its controversial privacy update, even as the ministry of electronics and information technology, which has made repeated requests for the withdrawal of the policy, warned the company of action if it did not respond favourably to a fresh notice within seven days.

“The government has given seven days to WhatsApp to respond to its notice. If no satisfactory response is received, necessary steps in consonance with law will be taken,” sources said, emphasising that the government is “concerned and serious” over what it called WhatsApp’s “bulldozing its way through to force users” to agree to the update.

In a fresh letter sent to the company, the IT ministry said that WhatsApp’s new privacy policy — which permits sharing business communication of users with Facebook although personal chats remain encrypted — is a “violation of several provisions” of Indian laws and rules.

“In fulfilment of its sovereign responsibility to protect the rights and interests of Indian citizens, the Indian government will consider various options available to it under laws in India.”

The government said that WhatsApp’s policy “undermines the sacrosanct values of informational privacy, data security and user choice for Indian users, and harms the rights and interests of Indian citizens”.

Shreya: WhatsApp taking advantage of a loophole since India does not have a law

The company, which has received opposition to its latest update from the IT ministry, Competition Commission of India, and even the courts, remains defiant in its decision to move ahead with the proposal, which though had been deferred across the European Union as the latter found the move against the tenets of user and data privacy of its citizens.

When contacted, a spokesperson for WhatsApp in India said that the company continues to engage with the government on the matter. “… we reaffirm what we said before that this update does not impact the privacy of personal messages for anyone. Our goal is to provide information about new options we are building that people will have, to message a business on WhatsApp, in the future.”

Shreya Suri, who tracks IT regulatory policies at law firm IndusLaw, said unlike the EU, lack of a data protection law in India is making it easier for WhatsApp to push the new update in India. “It’s taking advantage of a loophole since we don’t have a law.”

Full report on www.toi.in