WhatsApp Pay Rollout Gets One Step Closer In India
We have been discussing the dark mode of WhatsApp for quite some time now, considering how long it took the business to bring it to users. Another long-awaited feature of WhatsApp is the ability to make payments via WhatsApp. The new payment platform from Facebook is called WhatsApp Pay. He would have received a regulatory nod in the country. This means that by the end of 2020 or early next year, you will be able to pay using WhatsApp.
According to what an RBI executive said Commercial standard, “The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has granted WhatsApp permission to operate its digital payment service in installments.” It comes just days after the WhatsApp payment platform received the green light from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Payments via WhatsApp Pay
WhatsApp had already received approval to test its payment platform with a million users in India in 2018. Speaking of which, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said, “When so many people continued using it week after week, we knew it was going to be big when we got to launch. “
WhatsApp now wants to test payments with 10 million users before full deployment. Given that WhatsApp already has 400 million users in India, it will be the largest payment platform, at least theoretically, when the service is rolled out. This means that it should not be difficult for the company to convince companies to join.
For now, WhatsApp Pay will be a feature only in India. It would be safe to assume that it will also be deployed slowly in other countries.
How secure will WhatsApp Pay be?
Well, the company has apparently assured the NCPI and the RBI that WhatsApp Pay will comply with Indian data localization laws. And these laws require companies to store all user data related to payment on local servers inside the country. However, neither WhatsApp nor its parent company Facebook have the best record in protecting user data.
When Jeff Bezos’ iPhone was hacked, it was due to a WhatsApp bug. This is the most recent example, but there have already been many similar bugs in the app. And Facebook, do you remember Cambridge Analytica? It was the only case that came to light, but the company was often in difficult waters.
Given all this, it is obvious to wonder how secure will this WhatsApp payment platform be? Can we really trust WhatsApp Pay with our financial information?