Why WhatsApp users in Europe can opt-out of New WhatsApp privacy policy but users in India cannot?

WhatsApp users in Europe can opt-out of the new privacy policy owning to the laws in the EU called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which shield them from sharing data from Facebook or grant them the power to say no to WhatsApp’s new terms of service.

WhatsApp’s new terms of service will go into effect from May 15, 2021. The new privacy policy alters how the Facebook-owned app accesses user data when interacted with a business account. The new terms of service essentially will change how WhatsApp service will process your data, how businesses can use Facebook-hosted services to store and manage their WhatsApp chats and how WhatsApp partners with Facebook to offer integration across Facebook company products. WhatsApp faced severe criticism since the announcement of the new policy and even extended the date of the new privacy policy from February to May 2021. Now, as the days inch closer, WhatsApp has again started sending reminders to users to accept the privacy policy, failing which they will lose access to the account, eventually.