WhatsApp to send privacy update reminders in THESE 10 Indian languages

Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp has recently taken a u-turn from its stand as it promises users and government that it will not limit the functionality for those users who do not agree to its new privacy policy but will continue to remind users about the update, and maintain this approach till the forthcoming data protection law comes into effect. 

Now WhatsApp has revealed that users will be able to view reminders in 10 regional languages apart from English for its privacy update.

But there is a catch, WhatsApp has restricted those users who are planning to choose those languages as default options on their smartphones. To elucidate more, if a user has chosen Gujarati as their default language, then they will get the reminders in the Tamil language. However, if the default language is English, then you will receive the reminders in English. 

These 10 languages include Hindi, Bangla, Punjabi, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, and Malayalam, apart from English. 

On May 18, the government had ordered WhatsApp to withdraw its controversial privacy policy update, saying the changes undermine the sacrosanct values of privacy, data security and harms the rights and interests of Indian citizens.

A raging debate had ensued earlier this year after WhatsApp said it will update its terms of service and privacy policy around how it processes user data and partners with Facebook to offer integrations across the social media giant's products.

WhatsApp -- which has 53 crore users in India as per the government data -- had faced severe backlash over user concerns that data was being shared with parent company, Facebook.

Last week, WhatsApp had told the Delhi High Court that while its new privacy policy has come into effect from May 15, it would not start deleting accounts of those users who have not accepted it and would try to encourage them to get on board.