Centre warns WhatsApp from applying its new privacy policy

The Centre has urged the Delhi High Court to restrain Facebook-owned WhatsApp from implementing its new privacy policy and terms of service which are to take effect from May 15.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology made the statement in its affidavit filed in response to a petition challenging the new privacy policy of social networking platform WhatsApp.

In its affidavit the Centre said, "It is humbly prayed that in view of the above submissions, the Respondent No. 2 (WhatsApp) may be restrained from implementing its new privacy policy and terms of service dated January 4, 2021, from February 8, 2021, or any subsequent date pending adjudication by this court."

The new WhatsApp policy says how user data is impacted when there is interaction with a business on the platform, and provides more details on integration with Facebook, WhatsApp’s parent company. Under the new policy, users can either accept it or exit the app, but they cannot opt out to share their data with other Facebook-owned or third-party apps.

WhatsApp had made it clear since the announcement of its updated privacy policy that the update is mainly meant for businesses using its messaging platform. This means that once the updated privacy policy is accepted, the app will be able to share user details such as their phone numbers and transaction data. Though, WhatsApp stated that the change would not impact “how people communicate with friends or family” on the platform. The company also specified in a blog post that it would continue to provide end-to-end encryption for private messages, and it didn't keep logs of its users' messaging and calling.