WhatsApp told to face legal action if not willing to roll back its new privacy policy

New Delhi: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has warned legal action against WhatApp if not willing to withdraw its much controversial revised privacy policy.

In the notice send to the company, the ministry has said that it is irresponsible for WhatsApp to leverage position in Indian market to impose unfair terms and conditions while noting how WhatsApp's new privacy policy violates various provisions of the existing Indian laws and rules.

According to the ministry, the changes made in WhatsApp's new privacy policy undermines the sacrosanct values of informational privacy, data security and user choice and harms the rights and interests of Indian citizens.

The notice also strongly condemned WhatsApp's 'discriminatory treatment' to Indian users in comparison to the users in Europe.

The company's decision to share data with Facebook as per its revised privacy policy drew a lot of flak from the public and the government. It had also deferred its new privacy policy beyond May 15, 2021. The matter is sub-judice as the ministry approached the Delhi High Court over the same. The bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh is to here further hearing on the matter on June 3.

Meanwhile, The government has asked WhatsApp to respond to its concerns by May 25.