Reply within four weeks on WhatsApp payment service: SC to Centre

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and messaging service provider WhatsApp after a plea sought direction to restrain the app from proceeding with its payments systems unless it fully complies with RBI's provisions.

A bench of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Indu Malhotra sought response from WhatsApp, Law and Justice Ministry, Finance Ministry and Information Technology Ministry within four weeks.

Advocate Virag Gupta, appearing for the petitioner Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change, contended that the messaging platform does not comply with provision of mandating a Grievance Officer and other laws of India including Know Your Customer (KYC) norms laid down by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The plea said that while companies like Facebook and Google have appointed Grievance Officers for users in India, WhatsApp had not.

We share limited data with Facebook to help customers, confirms WhastApp

Popular messaging app WhatsApp has claimed it shares limited data of payment service with its parent firm Facebook and the social media major does not use the information for commercial purpose. "Facebook does not use WhatsApp payment information for commercial purposes, it simply helps pass the necessary payment information to the bank partner and NPCI. 

In some cases, we may share limited data to help provide customer support to you or keep payments safe and secure," WhatsApp claimed on its website. WhatsApp is running beta version of its payment service in India. According to government sources, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has written to National Payment Corporation of India to verify compliance around WhatsApp payment and check if WhatsApp is sharing data with its parent firm Facebook.