![]() ![]() ![]() But it doesn’t seem that India is buying Facebook’s explanation. WhatsApp has been working with New Delhi to allay its concerns since early this year. In a filing to the Delhi High Court, the federal government also asked the court to prevent WhatsApp from rolling out the update in India.ġ0 VCs say interactivity, regulation and independent creators will reshape digital media in 2021Įarlier this year, India’s IT ministry had written to Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, to express its “grave concerns” about the update and its implications and had “called upon to withdraw the proposed changes.” Last week, the Indian government alleged that WhatsApp’s planned privacy update violates local laws on several counts. The move on Wednesday follows months long legal battle WhatsApp has been fighting in India over its new policy update, which goes into effect in May this year. The DG may also investigate these aspects during its investigation.” It may be possible that Facebook will condition provision of such services to businesses with a requirement for using the data collected by them. “As per the 2021 update to the privacy policy, a business may give third-party service provider such as Facebook access to its communications to send, store, read, manage, or otherwise process them for the business. This would enhance and accentuate switching costs for the users who may want to shift to alternatives due to the policy changes,” the order reads. Moreover, the users who do not wish to continue with WhatsApp may have to lose their historical data as porting such data from WhatsApp to other competing apps is not only a cumbersome and time consuming process but, as already explained, network effects make it difficult for the users to switch apps. “Given the pronounced network effects it enjoys, and the absence of any credible competitor in the instant messaging market in India, WhatsApp appears to be in a position to compromise quality in terms of protection of individualised data and can deem it unnecessary to even retain the user-friendly alternatives such as ‘opt-out’ choices, without the fear of erosion of its user base. WhatsApp remains committed to protecting people’s personal communications with end-to-end encryption and providing transparency about how these new optional business features work,” said a WhatsApp spokesperson in a statement. ![]() “We look forward to engaging with the CCI. In its order, the Indian watchdog said WhatsApp’s “ take-it-or-leave-it” nature of privacy policy and terms of service “merit a detailed investigation in view of the market position and market power enjoyed by WhatsApp.” The Indian watchdog has ordered the nation’s Director General (DG) to investigate WhatsApp’s new policy to “ascertain the full extent, scope and impact of data sharing through involuntary consent of users.” The Director General has been ordered to complete the investigation and submit the report within 60 days. Indian antitrust body Competition Commission of India on Wednesday ordered (PDF) an investigation into WhatsApp’s privacy policy changes, saying that the Facebook-owned service breached local antitrust laws in the guise of a policy update. WhatsApp’s planned policy changes aren’t sailing smoothly in India, the instant messaging service’s biggest market by users. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |