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Business News/ News / India/  Trust in WhatsApp falling fast amongst Indian users, three surveys reveal
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Trust in WhatsApp falling fast amongst Indian users, three surveys reveal

Rivals Telegram and Signal are the benefactors of this distrust amongst users. According to the CMR Survey, 41% of surveyed users said they were planning to shift to Telegram and 35% wanted to move to encrypted messenger Signal

Earlier this week, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in an email to WhatsApp boss that the new privacy policy terms take away choice from Indian users.Premium
Earlier this week, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in an email to WhatsApp boss that the new privacy policy terms take away choice from Indian users.

NEW DELHI : Messaging platform WhatsApp’s new privacy policy may have done irreparable harm to users’ trust on the Facebook-owned platform, two surveys revealed today. According to a survey of 1,500 Indians by Cybermedia Research (CMR), 79% said they are reconsidering using WhatsApp, while 28% are planning to leave the platform fully after May 2021, which is when the new policy comes into effect.

Community platform Local Circles, on the other hand, surveyed over 17,000 individuals in the country, revealing that over 75% users will completely stop using business chats and payments if the platform was to implement its new policy. According to a third survey (of 565 respondents, between January 9 and 25), by market research firm BM Nxt, 82% respondents have disapproved WhatsApp’s move and 37% are considering a move.

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Rivals Telegram and Signal are the benefactors of this distrust amongst users. According to the CMR Survey, 41% of surveyed users said they were planning to shift to Telegram and 35% wanted to move to encrypted messenger Signal. The LocalCircles survey said 21% of Indian users are already using WhatsApp alternatives actively.

The two apps had gone viral worldwide since the new terms and conditions were announced by WhatsApp. According to data from Sensor Tower, Signal had recorded 26.4 million downloads (on Android and iOS) from India in less than two weeks after the update, while Telegram also saw a growth of 15% in downloads from India.

WhatsApp has also run afoul with the Indian government, which wrote a letter to the company asking it to withdraw the update. “As you may be aware, the Personal Data Protection Bill, which is being discussed by a Joint Committee of the Parliament, is focused on the core value of purpose limitation in the processing of personal data. As per the changes to the WhatsApp Privacy Policy, any information shared with any Facebook Company can be used for an expansive variety of purposes, which may not be reasonably expected by users of WhatsApp," the letter stated.

The Facebook-owned platform had earlier delayed the update from February 8 to May 2021, though it is unclear whether it will withdraw the changes altogether. “We wish to reinforce that this update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook. Our aim is to provide transparency and new options available to engage with businesses so they can serve their customers and grow," the company had said in a statement after it received the government’s letter. “We are working to address misinformation and remain available to answer any questions," it added.

The company also said, yesterday, that the new policy won’t affect WhatsApp Pay if it comes into effect. The company said UPI transaction history is not shared with Facebook and will always be governed by a separate policy the company has created for WhatsApp Pay.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prasid Banerjee
An engineering dropout, Prasid Banerjee has reported on technology in India for various publications. He reports on technology through text and audio, focusing on its core aspects, like consumer impact, policy and the future.
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Published: 29 Jan 2021, 02:52 PM IST
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