Millions of people, who begin their day by checking messages, videos and other content on WhatsApp for years now, were taken aback when the popular messaging application announced the update of its privacy policy earlier this month. The surprise move received huge backlash from millions of users, forcing it to delay the rollout from February 8 to May 15. It is reported that rivals like Signal and Telegram witnessed a huge surge in downloads in the aftermath of WhatsApp’s announcement, as social media users started looking for alternatives that provide better privacy. While more than two million new users signed up for Telegram in a matter of days, Signal went on to become number one free app in the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store. Users in India, WhatsApp’s largest market, who have been hooked to the app all these years but don’t subscribe to the new policy, have either switched to other platforms or have started looking out for options ahead of the May-deadline. As a damage control measure following the mass exodus of uses, the Facebook-owned app has released a statement saying that its new policy update does not affect the privacy of the users’ messages with friends or family in any way. It said the “changes are related to optional business features on WhatsApp, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data”. It also claimed that personal conversations of its users are protected with end-to-end encryption and neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see private messages, allaying fears about privacy being compromised. But what about content related to business like purchases, financial information, contacts, etc.? Is it right to force its users to compromise certain data however trivial it may be?
Facebook, which bought WhatsApp for a whopping $19 billion, can mint money by accessing business interactions of billions of its users in India but it can’t do that in Europe and dozens of other countries as they have stringent laws that restrict sharing of data and information between apps. So, forcing policies that can’t be implemented in other countries, on Indian users is unjust, discriminatory and shows utter disrespect for interests of users in the country. There can’t be different privacy policies for different communities, regions or countries. The government of India shouldn’t leave privacy of its citizens at the mercy any entity, public or private, for commercial gains. It should pass a strong law disallowing collection and use of its citizens’ data by firms as well as governments. Companies too should know that they will perish sooner than later if they go against the interest of the people or users. Most people will not trade their privacy for the communication services provided by social networking sites and apps. Lesser known companies are likely to overtake if WhatsApp fails to roll back its plan to implement its new privacy policy. Most users in India may not like the new policy to be forced upon them. The verdict will be out, come May 15.