In second missive, govt asks WhatsApp to roll back contentious new privacy policy

NEW DELHI: The government of India has for a second time asked messaging service provider WhatsApp to rollback an update to terms of use as it undermines “informational privacy, data security, and user choice”, union ministry officials said on Wednesday, citing a notice that was sent to the Facebook-owned company with a warning of punitive actions.

According to a ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) representative, WhatsApp informed the government it had deferred the May 15 implementation. But the government has insisted that the new policy be withdrawn in entirety.

The ministry told the company that the change “undermines the sacrosanct values of informational privacy, data security and user choice for Indian users”.

The new terms of use formalises WhatsApp’s policy of sharing data with its parent company in instances when a user interacts with a business account. The company first proposed to implement it in January and said users who do not accept it will have their accounts deleted, but delayed the move to May 15 after backlash. The policy has come into force and the company on May 17 told the Delhi high court it will continue to “persuade” users to accept it before their accounts are eventually deleted if they don’t comply.

On May 14, a WhatsApp representative told HT that users who did not lose any functionality till that point will not lose any additional features after May 15, a stand that appeared to be contradicted by its counsel in HC.

WhatsApp did not respond to requests for a comment.