In an announcement, WhatsApp has recently said that it is updating its terms of service and privacy policy from 8 February, 2021. WhatsApp is now under government eyes because of backlash faced by it from across the world since the announcement made.
According to new update in the privacy policy, WhatsApp will now start sharing users data with Facebook and its subsidiaries. This new update has sparked privacy concerns worldwide as the update has no other option rather than accepting the terms for using the WhatsApp any further.
According to a report of the Times of India, with so much of controversy in India the IT ministry is discussing the issue at its highest levels. And data is being collected for solving the matter, told an official source.
In India there are no laws regarding data protection, but a bill is there in the parliament which will take some time to become a law. So, the government is concerned about the ‘regulatory vacuum’, said the source.
As per the source, the privacy update in WhatsApp will not apply European Union and will not harm user privacy while in India it may harm the user privacy.
With all this the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has asked that the Indian government to either restrict WhatsApp from implementing the new privacy policy or ban Facebook and Facebook owned WhatsApp in India.
However, WhatsApp has clarified that no personal data will be shared, only data with business accounts will be shared. And also mentioned that user privacy will not be affected if the two optional features are not used.
