The Indian Government has filed a lawsuit at the Delhi High Court to prevent WhatsApp from rolling out its latest policies in India. The suit claims that the messaging app has not been able to assuage the fears of the Indian Government.
The new WhatsApp policies which state that users have until may 15 to review the changes after which functionalities will be depreciated if they don’t accept the terms i.e they will be able to receive calls and notifications but unable to send messages or receive them after an initial backlash that had it postpone its February 8 deadline.
India’s IT Industry had earlier written to the head of WhatsApp, Will Cathcart to withdraw the proposed changes. The ministry has asked WhatsApp to clarify over its data-sharing agreement with other commercial firms including Facebook and why the EU have been exempt from the new privacy policy. WhatsApp will be sharing users phone numbers and location with Facebook in its new update
The ministry has described the new terms as prejudicial to the interests of Indian users, which has the largest market share of users.
“Such a differential treatment is prejudicial to the interests of Indian users and is viewed with serious concern by the government,” the ministry wrote in the email, a copy of which was obtained by TechCrunch. “The government of India owes a sovereign responsibility to its citizens to ensure that their interests are not compromised and therefore it calls upon WhatsApp to respond to concerns raised in this letter.”
“This ‘all-or-nothing’ approach takes away any meaningful choice from Indian users. This approach leverages the social significance of WhatsApp to force users into a bargain, which may infringe on their interests in relation to informational privacy and information security,” the ministry said in the email.