IT panel quizzes FB and Twitter

NEW DELHI: The parliamentary panel on information technology on Thursday quizzed Facebook and Twitter over their data-sharing and protection protocols in the wake of recent changes to WhatsApp’s privacy policy that have since been deferred , people familiar with the proceedings said. “It was a constructive debate, with all parties agreeing that technology is evolving everyday,” said a person familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It is a constant and persistent challenge and everyone agreed that they need to work together to find a solution.”

The panel summoned Facebook, WhatsApp’s parent company, after the latter’s new privacy policy, which stated that the messaging app would mandatorily share data with the social media website, caused a storm. Some of WhatsApp’s users decided to leave the platform. The resulting controversy forced WhatsApp to defer the implementation of its policy from February to April. Experts said the new policy would allow Facebook to collect a vast amount of metadata.

At the meeting, Facebook did not mention whether the policy will be revoked. “They did reassure the panel that individual rights were its priority and asserted the policy was introduced in 2016. They maintained that the new policy will not infringe on the rights of users and there should be no concerns regarding data sharing.” A Facebook spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “We appreciate the opportunity of being able to share our views .... We put the people who use our service first at every step, and have made progress when it comes to making Twitter a safer place,” a Twitter spokesperson said.