Since the beginning of the year, the controversy has swelled around the
new conditions of use of WhatsApp. India, which represents more than a
quarter of users of the service, intends to put pressure on society.
Remember
that after having bought WhatsApp for more than 20 billion dollars in
2014, Facebook now tends to create bridges between messaging and its
social network, amassing more and more user data.
read also: WhatsApp: in the face of the controversy, the company delays its new privacy policy by 3 months
India wants to bend WhatsApp
Faced with the controversy generated
by the announcement of its new terms of use, WhatsApp has decided to
postpone their entry into force. Initially scheduled for February 8,
these are now scheduled for May 15.
If Facebook gives itself a
little time to convince its users, in India, we are simply asking for
the withdrawal of these new T & Cs which, let us remember, are not
optional. According to Techcrunch, the Indian Ministry of Information
Technology sent an email to Will Cathcart, head of development and
strategy at WhatsApp, explaining that the policy that Facebook is about
to implement poses 'serious concerns' with regard to “the choice and
autonomy of Indian citizens”.
'For this reason, we ask you to withdraw these proposed changes,' the message concludes.
Of
the 1.5 billion WhatsApp followers around the world, India today
represents more than 400 million users. The ministry therefore wonders
about the differences in data sharing between the European Union and
other countries in the world, and adds:
'Such differential treatment is detrimental to the interests of Indian users and perceived as a serious problem by the government.'
read also: WhatsApp, Signal: Why is everyone suddenly panicking about their data?
Europe and France are not so spared
Facebook recently explained
that the data sharing of European WhatsApp users would mainly concern
companies, using WhatsApp Business. In fact, data sharing between
Facebook and WhatsApp has been effective since 2016, although the data
of European users is somewhat protected by the GDPR, avoiding sharing
with third parties, from which users outside the EU are not protected. .
Anyway,
WhatsApp collects no less than 25 data points on its users, and this
controversy puts the issue of data confidentiality and privacy back to
the fore.
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