WhatsApp may soon touch 500 million users in India despite new privacy policy, claims report WhatsApp, which had 400 million users by mid-2019 is still being used by Indian users despite the new privacy policy, and may soon reach 500 million downloads, according to a report. Yasmin Ahmed | January 12, 2021 | Updated 16:58 IST (Picture: Reuters) Highlights WhatsApp had 459 million active users followed by YouTube with 452 million users, in December 2020. WhatsApp and its new privacy policy slated to go into effect from February 8, 2021, are causing users to look for alternative apps. However, a report claims that WhatsApp may soon reach 500 million users in India and is still being used by people in the country, despite the new privacy policies in place.