Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad (Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times via GettyImages)
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY) has warned messaging application WhatsApp to roll back its new privacy policy, implemented with effect from 15 May, failing to do which it will invite action under the countryâs rules,
Financial Express has reported.
WhatsApp has been given a week to respond to the notice sent on 18 May. Action may be taken against WhatsApp if the government does not receive any satisfactory response.
The government believes that that policy and the manner in which it was introduced subvert the values of information privacy, data security and user choices of Indian users.
The government says that since WHO nomenclature doesn't use 'Indian variant', use of the term is tantamount to spreading 'false news/misinformation' about coronavirus.
Remove content referring to Indian COVID variant: Govt to social media firms
According to sources, the IT Ministry has written to all social media platforms asserting that the WHO has not associated the term Indian Variant with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in any of its reports
PTI | May 22, 2021 | Updated 09:43 IST
The government has asked social media companies to immediately remove any content from their platform that uses or refers to the term Indian variant of coronavirus, to curb misinformation around COVID-19, sources said Friday.
According to sources, the IT Ministry has written to all social media platforms asserting that the World Health Organization (WHO) has not associated the term Indian Variant with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in any of its reports.