The Internet Freedom Foundation has moved the Supreme Court seeking an interim stay on Whatsapp s updated privacy policy and guidelines to safeguard the personal data and privacy of over 400 million Indian WhatsApp users.
The intervention application is filed in special leave petition filed by Karmanya Singh Sareen and Shreya Sethi in 2017, challenging the 2016 privacy policy of the company. The matter is being heard by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court.
In the instant application filed though
Advocate TVS Raghavendra Sreyas, IFF has stated that the 2021 Policy of Whatsapp is highly invasive and has been unilaterally forced upon Indian internet users.
The petition claims that WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy, which was made known on January 4 this year, essentially takes away the choice users had till now to not share their data with other Facebook-owned and third-party apps. WhatsApp had made it mandatory for its users to accept the new policy by February 8 or else the services and accounts of the respective users would be terminated.
The petitioner fears that the new regime will integrate Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram to give a 360-degree profile into a person s online activity, with a high level of insight into a person s private and personal activities without any government oversight and in the absence of a data protection authority.
BT Buzz: Why WhatsApp s clarification on privacy policy is misleading
Lack of data protection bill puts India at a disadvantage and Facebook seems to be exploiting it, claim experts. They say WhatsApp has a different policy for European and non-European users
Sonal Khetarpal | January 15, 2021 | Updated 12:26 IST
WhatsApp is likely to see 15% users in India move away, says LocalCircles survey
Instant messaging app WhatsApp recently announced the updating of its privacy policy terms from February 8, 2021. After this date users will have no choice but to accept these terms to use the app.
This has led to a backlash with many users migrating to alternate platforms. A survey by LocalCircles finds that WhatsApp is likely to see 15% users in India move away, while 36% will reduce usage drastically.