Plea Submitted in the Supreme Court of India Over WhatsApp New Policy

WhatsApp new privacy policy has been a game changer and not in a good way. From the moment these policy changes were revealed to the public there has been a huge backlash. Users in millions are now moving towards messaging apps like Signal and Telegram to preserve privacy. So bad has been the backlash that WhatsApp is now in damage control mode for the first time in a long time. In India where WhatsApp had become part of everyone's daily life the backlash has been severe.

A plea has been submitted in the Supreme Court of India over the privacy concerns that these new WhatsApp policy changes will bring. The plea has been filed by the Confederation of All India Traders wanting the governing bodies of the country to make laws to regulate the functioning of WhatsApp, Facebook and other internet-based messaging services. The petition has been filed in the court by advocate Vivek Narayan Sharma.

In the plea it has been stated "... On January 4, 2021, WhatsApp introduced its new privacy policy through which it scrapped its 'opt-out policy' and from now on, users will have to compulsorily consent to share their data with Facebook and its group companies for using the platform. The new policy will come into effect from February 8, 2021,". The petition has raised legitimate questions over the updated privacy policy of WhatsApp and its effect on the security of the netizens and the country.

"Today, high government officials like ministers and members of Parliament, judges, senior bureaucrats, defense personnel, crores of traders and well-known businessmen and so on use WhatsApp for sharing confidential and personal information and the compromise in the privacy policy would result in serious repercussions even for the national security of India," the plea stated.

The plea says users share confidential information on the platform on the assurance that their private and personal conversations, along with their confidential data and information, will neither be accessed by any other person (including the service provider itself) nor would such data or information be shared or exploited or utilised by anyone in any manner whatsoever.

The appeal also says that users share private data on the platform with the assurance that their private and personal communications, along with their private data and information, will neither be obtained by any other person (including the service provider) nor would such data or information be shared or abused or used by anyone in any method whatsoever.

The petitioner further submitted that such arbitrary policies imposed by these "so-called" technology giants need to be immediately checked as the citizens' personal data is being collected by a foreign entity and transferred outside the country. It points out that in 2016, Germany, the United Kingdom and the entire EU had prohibited a similar action of Facebook, which was asked to delete all data concerning WhatsApp users. The plea says WhatsApp, an internet application providing instant-messaging, voice-calling and video-calling services, is growing substantially with over 200 crore users worldwide, including 40 crore in India.

The petitioner also stated that such random and inconsistent policies changes should not go unchecked by the Government. The tech giants of the world also need to be checked since it is the privacy of the citizens and the Nation that is at stake. In 2016 countries like Germany, UK, and the European Union had put checks on Facebook over data privacy concerns.