WhatsApp: Agree with India on need to safeguard citizens’ privacy

Agreeing with the Indian government’s stand on the need to safeguard privacy of all Indian citizens, WhatsApp on Friday said it has taken a "strong action" in the Pegasus scandal. It also reiterated its commitment to protecting all the user messages. This comes after the government demanded an explanation from WhatsApp over its revelation that phones of roughly 1,400 individuals across the world were hacked using an Israeli spyware ‘Pegasus’ earlier this year. Reportedly, Indian scribes and human rights activists were among the users targetted by the spyware.

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"We agree with the government of India's strong statement about the need to safeguard the privacy of all Indian citizens. That is why we've taken this strong action to hold cyber attackers accountable and why WhatsApp is so committed to the protection of all user messages through the product we provide," said a WhatsApp spokesperson speaking to a news agency.

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'Concerned at the breach of privacy'

On Thursday, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad took to Twitter to reiterate his concern at the breach of privacy of Indians. He said that the government had sought an explanation from WhatsApp in this regard. Prasad also advised the Opposition not to politicise this issue, reminding them of the incidents when former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and General VK Singh were being spied upon during the regime of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). 

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“Government of India is concerned at the breach of privacy of citizens of India on the messaging platform Whatsapp. We have asked Whatsapp to explain the kind of breach and what it is doing to safeguard the privacy of millions of Indian citizens. The government is committed to protecting the privacy of all Indian citizens," Prasad had said.

(With PTI inputs)

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