WhatsApp reportedly dismissed calls by the Indian government to withdraw a controversial privacy policy update, telling The Times of India it will wait until new data protection legislation comes into effect.

The Facebook subsidiary reportedly also told local authorities in India the privacy of its users is a top priority.

But a WhatsApp representative told Mobile World Live the company had backed down on an original plan to restrict functionality of the messaging service for users which failed to accept its update, following talks with authorities and privacy experts.

It plans to periodically “remind users” to update, particularly in cases involving communication with businesses “receiving support from Facebook”.

India’s competition authority began probing the planned changes in March, with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology last week reportedly pressing WhatsApp to withdraw the update.

The country began working on a personal data protection bill in 2019 and a draft is reportedly expected to be voted on this year.