Union Minister Alphons KJ dismisses NaMo app data leak allegations as ‘fake stories’

Union Minister of State Alphons KJ on Sunday slammed Congress President Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of leaking details of his official mobile app users to US firms.

K.J. Alphons. Photo: PTI

NEW DELHI: Union Minister of State Alphons KJ on Sunday slammed Congress President Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of leaking details of his official mobile app users to US firms. Alphons KJ dismissed Rahul's allegations of data leak via Narendra Modi app as “fake stories”. “You think Prime Minister is going to give your data to a private company! Don’t believe such fake stories,” the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology was quoted as saying by ANI. Rahul Gandhi has attacked PM Modi over allegations of data sharing from his official App without users' consent. "Hi! My name is Narendra Modi. I am India's Prime Minister. When you sign up for my official App, I give all your data to my friends in American companies, Gandhi said on Twitter.

Hi! My name is Narendra Modi. I am India's Prime Minister. When you sign up for my official App, I give all your data to my friends in American companies.

Ps. Thanks mainstream media, you're doing a great job of burying this critical story, as always.https://t.co/IZYzkuH1ZH — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 25, 2018

Rahul was referring to a media report in which a French vigilante hacker in a series of tweets alleged that the personal data including email IDs, photos, gender and names of the users of Modi's mobile app were being sent to a third party domain without their consent. He also accused the media of "burying" the story. The BJP reacted on Twitter saying, it did not expect "any better" from the Congress chief. It also said the data is used only for analytics using third party service, similar to Google Analytics. "Contrary to Rahul’s lies, fact is that data is being used for only analytics using third party service, similar to Google Analytics. Analytics on the user data is done for offering users the most contextual content," the BJP's official Twitter handle tweeted.

Contrary to Rahul’s lies, fact is that data is being used for only analytics using third party service, similar to Google Analytics. Analytics on the user data is done for offering users the most contextual content.

— BJP (@BJP4India) March 25, 2018

"We also take this opportunity to encourage Rahul Gandhi to download NaMo App to keep himself appraised of the good things happening in India. PM Modi gave a call to work towards a #FitIndia today only. You can watch a refreshing Yoga video on the NaMo App," it added.

We also take this opportunity to encourage Rahul Gandhi to download NaMo App to keep himself appraised of the good things happening in India. PM Modi gave a call to work towards a #FitIndia today only. You can watch a refreshing Yoga video on the NaMo App. pic.twitter.com/PEn2HrrIgu

— BJP (@BJP4India) March 25, 2018

Rahul's remarks came days after the BJP accused the Congress of compromising national security by roping in political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica to run its 2019 election campaign. The firm is allegedly involved in social media data manipulation.