WhatsApp, a messaging App owned by social network Facebook, has announced changes to its privacy terms and conditions, and will share users’ personal data with Facebook starting next month 8.
An Indian lawyer filed a petition in the Delhi High Court on Thursday (14), alleging that WhatsApp’s new terms violate privacy and affect national security, seeking an injunction, becoming the world’s first lawsuit involving WhatsApp’s new terms.
Lawyer Chaitanya Rohilla said in the petition that the new terms allow WhatsApp to monitor the activities of Internet users in all aspects, user personal data transmitted and stored by foreign companies and regulated by foreign laws, violating India’s fundamental right to privacy. The petition also says that authoritarian behavior and intimidation are unacceptable in a democracy, and describes the new provisions as completely ultra vires and in violation of the fundamental rights granted by the Indian Constitution. The court hearing was held on Friday (15), WhatsApp did not comment on the incident.
India is one of the largest markets for WhatsApp, with 400 million users, many of whom have recently switched to other messaging applications such as Signal, forcing WhatsApp to spend heavily on advertising to try to appease users. In addition to India, the Turkish Competition Bureau is also investigating WhatsApp’s change of privacy terms.
Meanwhile, Poland plans to make it illegal to censor social media accounts. Prime Minister Morawiecki said earlier on Facebook that algorithms or owners of giant companies should not decide which views are right or wrong, stressing that “it is impossible for someone to agree to censorship”.
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