The WhatsApp messaging app is displayed on an Apple iPhone on May 14, 2019 in San Anselmo, California. Facebook’s messaging app, WhatsApp, has announced a cyber security breach that makes users vulnerable to installing malicious spyware on Android and iPhone smartphones. WhatsApp is encouraging its 1.5 billion users to update the app as soon as possible.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
India’s technology ministry asked WhatsApp, the giant of Facebook’s messaging service, to withdraw planned changes to its privacy policy, which generated widespread reaction, several media reported.
In an email addressed to the WhatsApp chief, Will Cathcart dated On January 18, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said the proposed changes raised “serious concerns” about the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens, Reuters reported.
The update relates specifically to features that allow users to interact with companies on WhatsApp.
The ministry said it was concerned about the lack of choice among Indian users instead of opting out of receiving the planned WhatsApp policy update compared to Europe, where data protection rules are stricter. The technology ministry called this “discriminatory treatment” that “betrays a lack of respect for the rights and interests of Indian citizens”.
“Therefore, you are called upon to withdraw the proposed changes,” the ministry wrote, according to Reuters. The news added that the ministry asked WhatsApp to answer 14 questions, including the type of user data it collected, whether it profiled users based on their usage habits and international data flows.
CNBC was unable to independently verify the content of the letters.
A WhatsApp spokesman told CNBC in a statement, “We want to reinforce that this update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook.”
“Our goal is to offer transparency and new options available to interact with companies so they can serve their customers and grow. WhatsApp will always protect personal messages with end-to-end encryption so that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see them,” said the spokesman said.
What is the update about?
WhatsApp said later that the update will not change the end-to-end encryption of personal conversations, meaning that the app and Facebook will still not be able to see private messages. WhatsApp also said it does not share people’s contacts with Facebook.
WhatsApp should start asking users on February 8 to accept the updated terms to continue using the app. Since then, the Facebook-owned app has said it would delay applying its planned policy update until May 15 to give people more time to “review the policy at their own pace”.
India is a big market for WhatsApp
India is one of the largest markets for WhatsApp, with more than 400 million users. The company’s plans for the country go beyond messages – as of last year, users can send money through the application.
Whether on WhatsApp, on Facebook, or on any other digital platform, you are free to do business in India … but do it in a way without violating the rights of Indians.
Ravi Shankar Prasad
Minister of Technology of India
“It has become a platform for many things. Small businesses and corporations are using WhatsApp to conduct commerce, payments and share payroll data,” Abishur Prakash, a geopolitical expert at the Center for Innovating the Future (CIF), a Toronto-based consulting firm, told CNBC by email. “This makes WhatsApp, an American service, a new type of infrastructure for doing business in India.”
The stakes for WhatsApp in India are very high, according to Prakash. He explained that there is a possibility that the messaging giant will change its policy “because of the strategic position that India occupies in its strategy”.
When viewed through the lens of technology and data sovereignty, New Delhi wants to establish its own data frontiers after pushing for an open data market where large technology companies share information with Indian companies, said Prakash. “This makes the new WhatsApp policy contrary to the direction New Delhi is taking.”
On Tuesday, India’s technology minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, chose a few words for Facebook, WhatsApp and other technology companies operating in the country.
“Whether on WhatsApp, on Facebook, or on any other digital platform, you are free to do business in India,” he said, speaking at a virtual event. “But do it in a way without jeopardizing the rights of the Indians who operate there”
“And the sanctity of personal communications needs to be maintained,” he added. “I know there will be pressure to share (data, but) that is totally unacceptable.”
– CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.