Government of India Asks WhatsApp to Withdraw New Privacy Policy

After facing major backlash from users all across the world, WhatsApp is now facing criticism from the Government of India. For starters, the new privacy policy required users to agree to share data with Facebook and its companies in order to keep using the messaging app.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued a letter to WhatsApp saying that these “unilateral changes are not fair and acceptable”. The Ministry reminded WhatsApp that India has the largest user base globally and the new Privacy Policy “raises grave concerns regarding the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens”.

Facebook representatives stated that the actual lawsuit doesn’t even have a foundation. This is because the private chats between family and friends are still secured by end-to-end encryption and are not stored by WhatsApp.