
After the Government ofIndia wrote a letter to the Facebook-owned instant messaging app WhatsApp toroll back its new privacy policy, it issued a statement on Monday stating that privacyof the users would not be compromised and it remains a priority.
Reiterating here, the Centreon May 20 had asked WhatsApp to either take back its latest privacy policy or torevise it till May 25. It further warned of strict action against the companystating it has “numerous options” available under the Indian Law to tackle thematter.
On Monday, WhatsAppresponded to the letter and its spokesperson said, “Wehave responded to the Government of India’s letter and assured them that theprivacy of users remains our highest priority. As a reminder, the recent updatedoes not change the privacy of people’s personal messages. Its purpose is toprovide additional information about how people can interact with businesses ifthey choose to do so.”
The facebook-owned messaging app has also made it clear that ifthe users won’t accept the policy they will still be able to access itsfunctions in the coming weeks. However, the app will continue to give gentlereminders to the users about its update as well as when they choose to userelevant optional features, like communicating with a business that isreceiving support from Facebook.
“We hope this approach reinforces the choice that allusers have whether or not they want to interact with a business. We willmaintain this approach until at least the forthcoming PDP law comes intoeffect,” the statement said.
It is pertinent to mention here that WhatsApp rolled its newprivacy policy on May 15 under which the company is able to share theinformation gathered from users and businesses with Facebook.
It further addedif the users will not accept the policy their accounts will not be deleted butmight be restricted to use limited functions if they do not agree to the new policy even after several reminders. There still rises a chance that eventuallyyour account will be deleted.