NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s ministry of technology has asked WhatsApp to reverse changes to its privacy policy announced by the messenger this month, saying the new terms take away choice from Indian consumers.
The application is creating a new headache for WhatsApp and its U.S. parent Facebook, which has made a big bet on the South Asian country to expand its payments and other businesses.
“The proposed changes raise serious concerns about the impact on the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens,” the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology wrote in an email to WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart with the dated 18 January.
“Therefore, you are asked to withdraw the proposed changes,” the ministry wrote in a letter seen by Reuters.
California-based Facebook invested $ 5.7 billion last year in the digital unit of Indian conglomerate trust with a large portion of that aimed at attracting tens of millions of traditional shop owners to make payments use digital through WhatsApp.
With 400 million users in India, WhatsApp has big plans for a growing digital payments space in India, including the sale of health insurance through affiliates.
These desires could be hit if Indians switch to rival messengers such as Signal and Telegram, and downloads of them have risen after WhatsApp reported on Jan. 4 that it may share limited user data with Facebook and its group companies.
It is a “major concern” that Indian users have not been given the option to opt out of this data sharing with Facebook companies and are being given less choice compared to European users of the app, the tech ministry letter said.
“This different treatment and discrimination of Indian and European users attracts harsh criticism and shows a lack of respect for the rights and interests of Indian citizens who are a big part of the WhatsApp user base,” he said.
The ministry asked WhatsApp to answer 14 questions covering the categories of user data it collected, whether it accounted for usage-based customers and cross-border data streams. .
WhatsApp has not responded to a request for comment but it has previously been said that the update to its privacy policy did not affect the privacy of users ’messages with friends, family and in groups.
The company said last week that it would delay the launch of a new policy until May from February, after criticism from consumers in India and elsewhere to the new terms. .
WhatsApp has launched a media advertising campaign in India to calm anxious users. The update of the privacy policy has also led to two legal petitions in Indian courts.
Reciting with Sankalp Phartiyal; Edited by Louise Heavens and Edmund Blair