Whatsapp treating Indians differently, Centre tells HC

NEW DELHI: The Central government on Monday told the Delhi high court that Whatsapp was treating the privacy rights of Indians as inferior to those of its European users by practising an “all or nothing” approach which might infringe on their privacy and security.

Complaining against what it termed “differential treatment”, the government called it a matter of concern that Indian users were being “unilaterally” subjected to the change in privacy policy by social networking platform Whatsapp.

The reference is to a change in the popular messaging platform’s terms of use that allows it to share information with parent Facebook. Following the public outcry at this move, with a deadline of February 8, Whatsapp on January 16 deferred the change till May. The IT ministry has also written to Whatsapp on this, asking it to “respect the informational privacy and data security of Indian users” and withdraw the proposed policy changes.

Additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma, representing the Centre, said “the scope and expanse of Whatsapp makes it a germane ground that reasonable and cogent policies are put in place.” The ASG was appearing on a petition by a lawyer, Chaitanya Rohilla, who has challenged the new privacy policy.

During the hearing on Monday, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva reiterated that Whatsapp is a private application and people can opt out if they have concerns about privacy.

However, the government responded that this could not be considered just as a matter between two private parties.

ASG Sharma said that notice and questionnaires have been sent to Whatsapp, seeking its response on various aspects. “Privacy policy offered by Whatsapp to its European users specifically prohibits the use of any information shared with a Facebook company...this clause has not been offered to Indians and Indian citizens who form a substantial part of Whatsapp’s user base,” he said.