Govt Sends New Notice To WhatsApp For Withdrawing Privacy Policy Update

In the communication sent to WhatsApp late on Tuesday, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology called it an undermining of the values of informational privacy and data security.

(Representative Image/Getty)

New Delhi: Sending a new notice to WhatsApp for withdrawing its updated privacy policy, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has given the instant messaging platform time till May 25 to respond to the same failing which “all necessary steps in consonance with the law” could be taken.

In the communication sent to WhatsApp, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology called it an undermining of the values of informational privacy and data security.

This is the second communication sent to the messaging platform for withdraw its controversial privacy policy as the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had earlier in January this year written to WhatsApp Global Chief Executive Officer Will Cathcart and asked him to withdraw the latest privacy and policy update on the messaging platform.

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The letter had pointed out that privacy update enabled WhatsApp and other Facebook companies “to make invasive and precise inferences about users”.

“This approach has the potential to infringe on core values of data privacy, user choice and autonomy of Indian users. Given the huge user base of WhatsApp and Facebook in India, the consolidation of this sensitive information also exposes a very large segment of Indian citizens to greater information security risk and vulnerabilities creating a potential honeypot of information,” the ministry said in the letter.