The Indian IT ministry has sent a notice to WhatsApp to withdraw its current Privacy Policy. The ministry has sent the instant messaging app seven days to respond to the notification otherwise “appropriate action in accordance with the law will be taken,” according to reports.
On May 18, the IT ministry informed WhatsApp that it will be withdrawing its Privacy Policy 2021.
In the midst of a raging privacy controversy, India raised the question of WhatsApp’s unequal treatment of Indian users in comparison to European users. According to the Ministry, “it is irresponsible for WhatsApp to use this role to enforce unequal terms and conditions on Indian users.”
Meanwhile, WhatsApp informed the Delhi High Court on Monday that it has not postponed the May 15 deadline for users to approve its revised privacy policy. WhatsApp’s senior counsel, Kapil Sibal, testified before the HC bench that the company is attempting to gain users’ confidence. However, if users do not adhere to the privacy policies, the firm will gradually uninstall these user accounts, according to Sibal.
The case has been adjourned by the High Court until June 3.
The HC was hearing a petition about WhatsApp’s current privacy policy, in which the petitioners asked the Centre to order WhatsApp to reverse their policy or provide consumers with the ability to opt-out of January 4, 2021, upgrade.
The High Court had issued notice on the appeal in February.
WhatsApp announced last week that its users would be required to approve the upcoming privacy policy or lose access to such critical functions. While users’ accounts will not be automatically terminated or their platform functionalities will be restricted on May 15, they will ultimately face limited functions if they do not embrace the new norms in a timely manner.
“For the past few weeks, we’ve been displaying a message in WhatsApp with additional detail about the upgrade. We’re continuing to remind those who haven’t had a chance to check and approve since allowing others time to do so. “After a few weeks, the alert users get will finally become persistent,” according to a WhatsApp FAQs page.
Before you approve the changes, you will have minimal features on WhatsApp. It was also mentioned that this would not apply to all users at the same time.
