After the immense backlash, WhatsApp has been facing for making people accept the privacy policies for using the app, another issue regarding the policies have come up. It seems that WhatsApp is rolling out a different version of the policy for European and Indian users. While the users in India have no other option than accepting the new user’s policies and sharing their data with Facebook and other platforms, the privacy policy in Europe remains unchanged for the users. The official statement from Niamh Sweeney,
Director of Policy for WhatsApp claims that “there are no changes to WhatsApp’s data-sharing practices in Europe arising from this update. It remains the case that WhatsApp does not share European Region WhatsApp user data with Facebook for the purpose of Facebook using this data to improve its products or ads.” The same update has also been updated on the WhatsApp website for Europe, in the FAQ section. After the revelation, questions started coming in as to why WhatsApp is not forcing the Europen countries to accept the changes while the same is not the case in India and has more stringent policies for the Indian users.
As per a Cyberlaw expert, “The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe is astringent and robust law protecting privacy and data of its people, unlike India where Personal Data Protection bill is yet to be enacted into a law.” There is also a lot of difference when it comes to law and the amount of fine the companies have to pay in data privacy issues, making Indian users a soft target. No matter what, the new changes in the Privacy laws have created a huge stir for the company, which they have been trying to explain ever since.