The Turkish presidency will switch to the local BiP app to inform journalists about the controversial new terms of use for WhatsApp.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s media office said it was shutting down WhatsApp after changing the messaging app to force many of its users to agree to a controversial new privacy policy.
In statements made on Sunday by WhatsApp, presidential officials said the press office will update journalists via BiP, a unit of Turkish media company Turkcell, starting on Monday.
After WhatsApp’s forced update to its privacy policy this week, users in Turkey objected to it on Twitter with the hashtag #DeletingWhatsapp.
According to Turkish state media citing Turkcell, BiP has gained over 1.12 million users in just 24 hours, boasting more than 53 million users worldwide.
Changes made to WhatsApp’s terms and services will take effect as of February 8 and will allow data sharing with parent company Facebook and its other subsidiaries.
Users must agree to the new terms to continue using the application after the deadline.
On Saturday, Ali Taha Koc, head of Turkey’s Presidential Digital Transformation Office, criticized WhatsApp’s new terms of service and the exemption from the new data sharing rules for users in the UK and the European Union.
He asked the Turks to use “national and local” applications, such as BiP and Dedi.
“The distinction between EU member countries and others in terms of data privacy is unacceptable! As we mentioned in the Information and Communication Security Guide, applications of foreign origin present significant risks in relation to data security, ”said Koc in a tweet.
“That’s why we need to protect our digital data with local and national software and develop it according to our needs. Let’s not forget that Turkey’s data would remain in Turkey thanks to local and national solutions. “
New rules
The company said the updated terms will allow additional sharing of information between WhatsApp and Facebook and its other applications, such as Instagram and Messenger, as contacts and profile data, but not the content of messages that remain encrypted.
Facebook aims to monetize WhatsApp, allowing companies to contact their customers through the platform and sell products directly using the service, as they already do in India.
Facebook is under increasing pressure from regulators as it tries to integrate its services.
In 2017, the EU fined the U.S. social media giant 110 million euros (then $ 120 million) for providing incorrect and misleading information about the acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014 about the ability to link accounts between services.
Federal and state regulators in the U.S. have accused Facebook of using its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram to crush competition and filed antitrust lawsuits last month aimed at forcing the company to dispose of them.
In November, Turkey fined global social media companies, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, 10 million lire ($ 1.18 million) each for failing to comply with a new social media law.
The new law, which came into force in October, requires platforms with more than one million daily users in Turkey to appoint a representative responsible before Turkish courts, comply with orders to remove “offensive” content within 48 hours and store data from the user within Turkey.