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A few weeks ago, a notice reached all mobile phones with WhatsApp installed in Spain that the application was going to change its conditions of use, which are mandatory to use the app.
This is not something strange precisely, neither in WhatsApp nor in many other apps, but the content of these changes was what caused the controversy. Specifically, a reference to Facebook and the way in which WhatsApp shares user data with its parent company fueled the worst fears.
We already know that the new WhatsApp conditions do not affect Spain, and that they do not represent a great change compared to the previous ones; even so, the controversy has forced WhatsApp to delay the new conditions.
Governments react to WhatsApp
But that may not be enough to calm things down. This week, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology sent a “hard-worded” letter to WhatsApp, requesting that the company withdraw the new terms completely.
As reported Gadgets360, the government has decided to act after verifying that the proposed changes raise “serious concerns” about the freedom and autonomy of Indian citizens, who are not being “duly respected.”
Android mobile with the new WhatsApp notice.
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The letter states that any unilateral change to WhatsApp’s terms of service would not be “fair or acceptable.” Although the government has not published any order, or proposed any law to prevent these changes, the way the letter is written suggests that this may be the previous step to those if WhatsApp decides to go ahead with the changes.
Controversial terms of use
This letter was sent a day after one of the New Delhi courts criticized a lawsuit against WhatsApp, stating that the terms of service are “voluntary”, and that no one is obliged to use the app. WhatsApp is the preferred method of communication in India, where it completely dominates the market to the point of expanding into projects such as insurance and pensions.
In court, representatives of WhatsApp repeated the company’s position: that the changes are necessary only for the function that allows contacting businesses through WhatsApp, and that messages remain encrypted and they cannot be read by WhatsApp or Facebook.
However, the court has also requested more information about the data that would be shared with Facebook, and that is the same thing that the government has requested in the letter: to analyze the problem to verify its true scope.
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