The Turkish presidency is moving to the local BiP app to notify journalists of WhatsApp’s controversial new terms of use.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s media office says he is quitting WhatsApp after the messaging app to force many of its users to agree to a controversial new privacy policy.
In statements made by WhatsApp on Sunday, presidency officials said the media office would update journalists via BiP, a unit of the Turkish communications company Turkcell, from Monday.
Following WhatsApp’s forced update this week in its privacy policy, users in Turkey objected to it on Twitter with the hashtag #DeletingWhatsapp.
According to Turkish state media quoting Turkcell, BiP gained more than 1.12 million users in just 24 hours, boasting more than 53 million users worldwide.
The alternation of the terms and services of WhatsApp is effective from February 8 and will allow it to share data with the parent company Facebook and its other subsidiaries.
Users must agree to the new terms in order to continue using the application after the deadline.
Ali Taha Koc, head of the Turkish presidential office for digital transformation, on Saturday criticized WhatsApp’s new terms of service and the release of the new data sharing rules for users in the UK and the European Union.
He calls on Turks to use ‘national and local’ programs such as BiP and Dedi.
“The distinction between EU member states and others in terms of data privacy is unacceptable! As we mention in the Information and Communication Security Guideline, applications of foreign origin pose significant risks to data security, ”Koc said in a tweet.
“That is why we need to protect our digital data with local and national software and develop it in accordance with our needs. Let us not forget that Turkey’s data would remain in Turkey thanks to local and national solutions. ”
New rules
The firm said the updated terms allow for additional exchange of information between WhatsApp and Facebook and other applications such as Instagram and Messenger, such as contacts and profile data, but not the content of messages that remain encrypted.
Facebook aims to make money from WhatsApp by allowing businesses to contact their customers via the platform and sell products to them directly using the service, as is already being done in India.
Facebook has come under increasing pressure from regulators as it tries to integrate its services.
In 2017, the EU fined US social media giant 110 million euros (then $ 120 million) for providing false and misleading information about its 2014 takeover of WhatsApp regarding the ability to link accounts between services.
Federal and state regulators in the U.S. have accused Facebook of using the acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram to destroy competition and filed antitrust lawsuits last month aimed at forcing the company to sell some of them.
In November, Turkey fined global social media companies, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, 10 million lire ($ 1.18 million) each for failing to comply with a new social media law.
The new law, which went into effect in October, requires platforms with more than a million daily users in Turkey to appoint a representative responsible for Turkish courts, and to follow the orders for “offensive” content within 48 hours to delete and save user data in Turkey.