India Parliament Panel to question Facebook on WhatsApp’s privacy terms

An Indian parliamentary panel on Thursday will question Facebook executives on concerns around WhatsApp’s privacy policy changes, a source said, days after the technology ministry asked the messaging platform to withdraw the changes announced earlier this month.

The panel will ask why Facebook needed to change WhatsApp’s privacy policy and how it will impact users, the source said. With 400 million users, India is WhatsApp’s biggest market.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, in a Jan. 18 email to WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart, had said the new privacy policy terms take away choice from Indian users.

Downloads of rival messengers such as Signal and Telegram surged in India after WhatsApp said earlier this month that it could share limited user data with Facebook and its group firms. Reuters