Government concerned over breach of privacy, response sought from WhatsApp: IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

The central government has sought a detailed response from Facebook-owned platform WhatsApp after it revealed that the messaging platform was used to spy upon Indian journalists and activists. WhatsApp said that an Israeli spyware Pegasus was used to hack into phones of nearly 1,400 government officials, journalists and political activists across 4 continents. The messaging platform did not disclose the number of users that were affected in India.

Information Technology minister Ravi Shankar said that the government was concerned over the breach of privacy and had asked WhatsApp to explain how it was safeguarding the privacy of Indian citizens. “Government of India is concerned at the breach of privacy of citizens of India on the messaging platform Whatsapp. We have asked Whatsapp to explain the kind of breach and what it is doing to safeguard the privacy of millions of Indian citizens,” Prasad posted on Twitter.