WhatsApp has decided to extend its deadline of 15 May for users to accept its privacy policy update, a company spokesman told news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) on Friday.
This is the second time in four months that WhatsApp has had to postpone the deadline for users to accept its privacy policy. Earlier, WhatsApp had threatened users that if they fail to accept the platform’s privacy policy, their accounts would be deleted – which is no longer the case.
“Although the majority of users who have received the new terms of service have accepted them, we appreciate some people haven’t had the chance to do so yet,” PTI further quoted the WhatsApp spokesman as saying.
The update has caused outrage around the world: a recent survey conducted with more than 500 participants in India revealed that 82 percent of WhatsApp users are against the app’s privacy policy.
Indian WhatsApp users have declared time and again on social media that they will not "have their arm twisted" into accepting anything they are not entirely comfortable with.
Meanwhile, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) told the Delhi High Court in April that WhatsApp’s privacy policy would result in excessive data collection and "stalking" of users over advertising purposes.
Later, the Delhi High Court also dismissed pleas extended by WhatsApp and Facebook challenging the probe launched by India’s competition watchdog into its update that questioned the necessity of CCI’s involvement in the case when the Supreme Court of India was already accessing the privacy policy.
The CCI, however, maintained that the issue is not only related to concerns over data sharing and collection – but also to the possibilities of WhatsApp exploiting its dominant position in India for targeted advertising.