New Delhi: WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy verges on user surveillance and threatens India’s security. This is the main point in a petition filed Thursday in a court here Thursday. This new development presents another legal challenge for the Facebook-owned messenger. California-based WhatsApp said January 4 it reserved the right to share some data including location and phone number. The app said that the data will be shared with Facebook and its units such as Instagram and Messenger. That triggered outrage, including WhatsApp’s biggest market India where it has 400 million users.
The change has also met with a challenge in Turkey. The country’s Competition Board this week launched an investigation into the messaging service and its parent.
In India, many users have began installing rival apps like Signal and Telegram. This has pushed WhatsApp to begin a costly advertising campaign to calm customers.
Also read: WhatsApp growth slumps as rivals Signal, Telegram rise substantially
“It virtually gives a 360-degree profile into a person’s online activity,” lawyer Chaitanya Rohilla said of Whatsapp’s new policy in the petition. The petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court. The case will be heard later Friday.
A copy of the petition said Whatsapp was jeopardising national security. It was doing so by sharing, transmitting and storing user data in another country with the information thus governed by foreign laws. “WhatsApp has made a mockery out of our fundamental right to privacy,” the petition said.
WhatsApp has given users a February 8 deadline to agree to the new terms.
“This type of arbitrary behaviour and browbeating cannot be accepted in a democracy and is completely ‘ultra vires’ (beyond its powers). It is against the fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution of India,” the petition added.
WhatsApp did not respond to a request for comment. It has previously said the policy update does not affect privacy of messages with friends and family, as group chats are encrypted. The changes only relate to interactions with businesses.