Par panel meets to examine WhatsApp snooping issue

A parliamentary standing committee, headed by Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, met here on Wednesday to examine the WhatsApp snooping issue.

As per the notice issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat for the meeting, the panel will be briefed by representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Home Affairs and Department of Atomic Energy on the subject -- "Citizens' data security and privacy".

Tharoor, who heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, had written a letter to the other panel members, saying the alleged use of technology for snooping on Indian citizens was a matter of "grave concern" and it would be discussed at the next meeting of the committee on November 20.

Earlier, Facebook-owned WhatsApp said Indian journalists and human rights activists were among those globally spied upon by unidentified entities, using an Israeli spyware -- Pegasus.