India today sent out a stern warning to Whatsapp for its new privacy policies stating in a court that the instant messaging app was treating its Indian users differently in comparison to those in Europe. The message was part of the federal government's submission in a court hearing a petition over the new data-sharing policy.
Appearing on behalf of the federal government, the additional solicitor general (ASG) Chetan Sharma said Whatsapp was treating its Indian users differently compared to the Europeans and the matter was one of great concern as it meant users were being "unilaterally" subjected to the changes in the privacy policies.
The matter was brought up before justice Sanjeev Sachdeva in the Delhi High Court which is hearing a petition against the new policies implemented by Whatsapp which makes it mandatory for users to agree to share data with Facebook, its parent company, ostensibly for better targeted serving of ads.
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Prior to the arguments in the case, the court had, on January 18, suggested that it was not mandatory to download Whatsapp, which had the freedom to create its own privacy rules and regulations. The judge had also observed that the Personal Data Protection legislation was in the Parliament.
During the hearing today, Chetan Sharma described the move by Whatsapp as an "all or nothing approach" which was not so when it came to what the company had offered its European users, which prohibits use of data shared with Facebook for the company's purposes. "This clause is not found in the privacy policy offered to the Indian citizens, who form a substantial part of Whatsapp's user base," he said.
"This differential treatment is certainly a cause of concern for the government. It is also a matter of concern for the government that Indian users are being unilaterally subjected to the changes in the privacy policy," the government's counsel said. He also made the point that such a measure leverages the social significance of WhatsApp to force users into a bargain which may infringe on their interests in information privacy and information security.
He informed the court that the government had already taken a view of the situation and communicated to Whatsapp seeking some information. On its part, Whatsapp, via its counsel Kapil Sibal, said the government note was under consideration and the company would respond at the next hearing fixed for March 1, 2021.
Earlier, the federal government had talked tough to WhatsApp and told the company that its unilateral changes (to privacy policy) were 'unacceptable'. However, the social messaging platform responded in a general, even vague, terms that reiterate what it has been saying all along.
Meanwhile, following the privacy policy dispute over Whatsapp, competitors like Signal are hoping to lure users away by borrowing some of the popular features from the world's biggest instant messaging app service. Signal already offers end-to-end encryption and the ability to send messages that self-destruct after a certain period of time (an option that arrived in WhatsApp late last year), but its latest beta release reveals a raft of other updates that will bring it in line with its rival.
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