In the midst of massive exodus of customers from the WhatsApp platform, the company has now decided to delay the implementation of the 'new privacy policy' for sharing of data to Facebook from February 8 to May 15, 2020. It is a wake-up call towards the implementation of a strong data privacy norm like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) covering the European Union, into all countries across the globe. In countries like India, the survival and growth of many fintech are dependent on the utilization of data. The discussion here is, whether stronger regulations shall bring in more layers of bureaucracy and impede the growth of technology or the cost of sharing personal information and compromising privacy is too high!
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/opinion/whatsapp-new-privacy-policy-sharing-data-with-facebook-2353796
On another note, the Senators in the US initiated an Anti Trust Law Suit against Facebook in 2020."Facebook Inc. was sued by U.S. antitrust officials and a coalition of states that want to break up the company by unwinding its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, deals the government says were part of a campaign to illegally crush the competition. Dec 10, 2020" - Source Google
This recent development seems like a much-delayed reaction of the corporate acquisition & business decision which had happened in 2012 & 2014. Was the deal approved by the Competition Authority then?
More about this in,
Having said this, wasn't this exchange of intra-corporate data to be utilized towards business growth always on the cards?