Mumbai : The Union government is delaying Facebook’s plans to launch its WhatsApp payments service nationwide over concerns about how users’ data will be stored and other issues.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has asked WhatsApp and its partner banks to supply more details about the payments system, Bloomberg reported quoting ministry officials.
The ministry has also urged the National Payments Corporation of India, which oversees the industry’s payments, to confirm that WhatsApp is fully compliant with its requirements, the officials said.
“We are working closely with the government, NPCI and multiple banks including our payment service providers to expand the feature to more people,” Anne Yeh, a WhatsApp spokeswoman, said, declining to elaborate on the timing of a country-wide launch.
The delay comes just as WhatsApp has been embroiled in a controversy over lynchings in the country. Doctored images and fake videos on the messaging platform of child abductions have gone viral in rural areas, whipping up mobs who have beaten and lynched about two dozen Indians.
