Lok Sabha Question No. 1593 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-10
Subject: Permission for Change in Privacy Policy
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: N.K. Premachandran

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1593

TO BE ANSWERED ON 10-02-2021

## PERSMISSION FOR CHANGE IN PRIVACY POLICY

## 1593. SHRI N.K. PREMACHANDRAN:

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has received any application from Facebook or WhatsApp regarding their change in policy pertaining to their user's privacy and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the social media companies are permitted to change their policy and implement the same in the country without the prior permission of the Government;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the action taken by the Government thereon;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to impose stringent condition on these platforms to protect the privacy of Indian citizen and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the details of action taken by the Government against the violation of right to privacy by these social media companies; and
- (f)  the  outcome  of  study,  if  any,  conducted  by  the  Government  on  the  impact  of  the  aforesaid policy changes of social media platforms?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

- (a):    No,  Sir.  Ministry  of  Electronics  & Information Technology (MeitY) has not received any application  from  Facebook  or  WhatsApp  regarding  their  change  in  policy  pertaining  to  their user's privacy.
- (b) and (c): Social media companies have to comply with applicable laws of the country. Under the  provisions  of  the  Information  Technology  (IT)  Act,  2000,  such  platforms  are  required  to publish  their  privacy  policy,  but  there  is  no  mandate  for  them  to  seek  prior  permission  of Government for a change in their  privacy  policy.  Nevertheless,  MeitY  took  cognizance  of  the WhatsApp announcement of its new Privacy Policy stated to be applicable to Indian users from February 2021. To safeguard the interest of Indian users, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology  (MeitY)  has  asked  WhatsApp  for  clarification  on  the  proposed  privacy  policy changes  and  also  to  explain  the  rationale  of  the  same.  WhatsApp  has  communicated  that  the messages  sent  by  users  in  their  private  chats  or  in  private  groups  continue  to  be  end-to-end encrypted and no other persons or WhatsApp can access these messages.
- (d) and (e): Section 43A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 provides for safeguards for  sensitive  personal  information  collected  by  a  body  corporate.  The  Information  Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules, 2011  notified  under  this  section  defines  sensitive  personal  information  and  also  mandate  that body corporate must provide policy for privacy and disclosure of information, so that user is well aware of the type of personal data collected, purpose of collection and usage of such information.

Also section 72A of the IT Act provides for punishment for disclosure of information in breach of the lawful contract.

Further, Government has already moved the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 in  Parliament which is presently under the consideration of the Joint Parliamentary Committee formed by Lok Sabha. The Bill provides for safeguards of privacy and interests of the Indian citizens.

- (f):  MeitY has not conducted any study on impact of the aforesaid policy changes.

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