WhatsApp’s New Privacy Policy May Have Legal Implications for Them

New set of privacy policies for Whatsapp may lead to trouble for them…get the details…

Thursday, 13th May 2021

WhatsApp announced on Friday that they will refrain from having users who do not comply with their latest privacy policy update, blocked from having access to the instant messaging application from May 15, as was mentioned by them earlier.

The Facebook–owned service stated that there will only be a limitation imposed on the services as opposed to a complete loss of functionality of the application on account of the privacy policy update.

They have decided that they will instead, continue to remind users to accept the latest policy. These reminders will become persistent after some weeks as per the company.

Once the frequency of these reminders shoots up, users will see a significant limitation in the functionality of the app unless and until they accept the terms. This, however, will not be faced by all their users at the same time according to WhatsApp.

Also Read: WhatsApp Could Start Sticker Suggestion Feature for Android and iOS Users.

Among the limitations that users will face, there will be a barring of access to their chat list, although users will continue to be able to answer all incoming phone or video calls. Moreover, if their notification option is enabled, they will also be able to read/respond to messages or call back a missed phone or video call.

After the passage of a few more weeks, the user will not be able to receive incoming calls or notifications. WhatsApp will also cease to send messages or calls to their devices.

However, users’ accounts will not be completely deleted by WhatsApp in case they do not accept the update. Deleting an account would mean a user would lose their entire messaging history, get removed from all WhatsApp groups as well as have all their WhatsApp backups erased.

As per tech and legal experts, the new update by WhatsApp could clash with the country’s laws on abuse of dominant position and will possibly be challenged before a court of law.

According to Prasanth Sugathan, legal director at SFLC.in, “What WhatsApp is essentially doing here is that you either share your data with it or you will not be able to use its services. This is coercion disguised under the garb of “consent”, especially considering the fact that it is a dominant player in the market and because of network effects it will not be easy for a user to shift to other platforms.”

WhatsApp is going forward with its decision despite MeitY writing to Will Cathcart, their global CEO to withdraw the policy.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source:

Indianexpress