India

GoI likely to ask Whatsapp to explain why new privacy policy for India but not in Europe

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New Delhi: Days after social media platform Whatsapp updated its terms of service allowing Facebook and its subsidiaries to collect user data including phone numbers and locations, the Facebook-owned company is now reportedly under the Government of India’s scanner.

The move has sparked privacy concerns across the world as WhatsApp users will not be able to use the app without agreeing to the new terms.

As per a Times of India report, the Indian government has started examining the controversy surrounding WhatsApp’s new update. “We are collecting details,” the report quoted an official source as saying. The issue is reportedly being discussed at the highest levels of the IT ministry.

Quoting the source, the report said that government is concerned about the ‘regulatory vacuum’ in terms of data protection in India as there is no data protection law at present.

“Also, the privacy update sought by WhatsApp in user agreement in European Union is seen as lenient while in India it is wide-ranging and may have terms that may potentially harm user privacy,” the official source was quoted further saying.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has asked that the Indian government should either restrict WhatsApp from implementing the new privacy policy on ban WhatsApp and Facebook in India.

WhatsApp has issued a clarification stating that your privacy won’t be affected if you don’t use the two optional features. However, it has mentioned that any chats with businesses will be shared with Facebook and ads will be shown based on these chats.

 

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