The Social Media Hub of the Election Commission of India will look into allegations of harnessing user data through mobile apps of political parties and personalities, Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat said on Tuesday while announcing the Karnataka Assembly poll dates.
Twitter user and French security researcher Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) had found that when a user creates a profile of either the Narendra Modi app or the Congress’ app, personal data is sent to third parties without obtaining the user's consent.
Mr. Alderson also tweeted that the Narendra Modi app had changed its privacy policy without notifying its users. The Congress’ app, Mr. Alderson later tweeted, had been taken off the Android Play Store. “The URL for membership on the INC app has been defunct for a while now. Our membership is through the INC website,” tweeted the Congress’ social media head Divya Spandana.
This led to a war of words between both parties.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Modi’s NaMo App secretly records audio, video, contacts of your friends & family and even tracks your location via GPS. He’s the Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians. Now he wants data on our children. 13 lakh NCC cadets are being forced to download the APP. #DeleteNaMoApp ”
He also accused the Prime Minister of misusing his position to build a database. “Modi misusing PM position to build personal database with data on millions of Indians via the NaMo App promoted by Govt. If as PM he wants to use tech to communicate with India, no problem. But use the official PMO APP for it. This data belongs to India, not Modi,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted on Monday.
In response, BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted, “Hi! My name is Rahul Gandhi. I am the President of India’s oldest political party. When you sign up for our official App, I give all your data to my friends in Singapore.”
