WhatsApp has at present deferred the obligation to accept its disputed privacy policy. The company has said that even if the privacy policy is not accepted, the account of the users will not be deleted. Earlier, WhatsApp had said that the new privacy policy would have to be accepted by 15 May.
The WhatsApp account of users not doing so will be deleted or the user will not be able to use all its features. Now the company has postponed it and said that users will be given more information about this in the coming time.
The entire case began on 4 January 2021. When opening WhatsApp, users got a new message on the display. This message contained information about WhatsApp's new privacy policy and it was also said that this policy has to be accepted by February 8, otherwise you will not be able to use WhatsApp.
After this, opposition to the company started in many places including social media. People said that this is a dent in their privacy and many people started using other messaging apps like Signal and Telegram, leaving WhatsApp.
The government also came forward when the dispute increased. The Ministry of Electronics and IT issued notice to WhatsApp asking it to withdraw the policy. In view of the increasing opposition, WhatsApp extended the last date for accepting the policy from 8 February to 15 May.
In the new policy, WhatsApp said that it will share user information with Facebook and other companies. After accepting the policy, the company will be able to upload, submit, store, send or receive content on WhatsApp, using them on any of its platforms and in any country.
WhatsApp's reasoning behind this was that it was being done to increase the safety and convenience of the user, but experts said that the company was further commercializing the user's data. This data will be used for the company's advertising and will earn money. The company will have every information of yours so that it will monitor your every activity.
In this case, the latest update is that WhatsApp has canceled the last date for accepting the policy on 15 May. This does not mean that the privacy policy has been postponed. Actually, the company has canceled the date of accepting the privacy policy. The company has also said that in the coming time, the remaining information in this regard will be shared.
In this case, public interest litigation was also filed in the Delhi High Court, which was heard on 5 May. In this hearing, a bench of 2 judges along with WhatsApp and Facebook also sought a response from the central government by 13 May.
On the allegations against the company, WhatsApp said that this policy is for the users of the WhatsApp business. They will not have any effect on the message of the personal user. That is, the message you do to your family and friends will be safe as before.
The company had also assured that any interaction with the personal account would be fully encrypted end-to-end. That is, apart from the sender and receiver, WhatsApp will not be able to read these messages.
The company has not given any reason behind this decision. Actually, India is a big market for any social media company like WhatsApp. In February 2021, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that the number of active WhatsApp users in India is 53 crore.
When the new policy was introduced in January, many people started using apps like Signal and Telegram, leaving WhatsApp. As Internet connectivity is getting better, the number of new internet users is also increasing in India. At present, India is at the forefront of the world in terms of using internet data. This move of the company is being linked to the same reasons.
Currently WhatsApp has information like your mobile number, contact list, transaction information (if you use WhatsApp payment), information related to your mobile's software, model of mobile, IP address, location, network. The Company also shares this information with other companies of parent company Facebook.
If you understand in easy language, the company that owns any company is called its parent company. WhatsApp was bought by Facebook in 2014, according to which Facebook became the parent company. Facebook has also created Instagram and Messenger. Facebook owns all these. If WhatsApp is sharing your information with Facebook, then Facebook can also share that information with other companies associated with Facebook.
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