New Delhi: The popular messaging app WhatsApp might need to stop working in its current form if the proposed government regulations for social media companies operating in India kicks in.
Carl Woog, WhatsApp's Head of Communications, told IANS on the sidelines of a media workshop. He said "Of the proposed regulations, the one which concerns us the most is the emphasis on traceability of messages. Woog further added, the proposed changes are going overboard and are not consistent with strong privacy protections that people around the world are seeking.
WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption by default which means only the sender and the recipient can see the messages in circulation – not even WhatsApp. Without this feature, Woog explained, WhatsApp will be a completely new product. He also said, "Given the end-to-end encryption we have in place, the regulations will require us to re-artchitect our product,"
Addressing one of the major demands from the government, facebook owned company said, "As part of establishing our operations in India, we have identified a Grievance Officer who can be contacted directly if a user has a concern about their WhatsApp experience and is unable to report it through other channels.”