Sakshi Chhabra
Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Centre in regard to the appeal filed by WhatsApp and Facebook challenging the order passed by the Single Judge that denied setting aside the (CCI) Competition Commission of India probe into the messaging platform’s new Privacy Policy.
The matter was listed before the Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh.
WhatsApp claimed that the Single Judge acted too soon in the case of Privacy Policy by initiating a suo motu proceeding even after being informed that the case was pending before the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court.
The Single Judge clearly refused to interfere in the proceedings of the CCI stating that this case is a breach of trust and the outcome of it can be disastrous.
It was further stated that WhatsApp and Facebook directly challenged the order of the CCI without even initiating an application before the Supreme Court or the High Court.
The CCI held that, “Simply put, it appears that consent to sharing and integration of user data with other Facebook Companies for a range of purposes including marketing and advertising, has been made a precondition for availing WhatsApp service.”
CCI further concluded that there can be no justified reason as to why the users can have no control over their own personal data.
WhatsApp is an App which is widely used by the people globally and such policy is in direct contravention of Setionc 4 of the Competition Act.
A petition was filed in the Delhi High Court against the new privacy policy updated by WhatsApp.
The petition was filed by Seema Singh and Meghan stating that the updated policy indicates a breach towards data protection and privacy policy.
This new privacy policy was first revealed back in 2016. But it was announced recently on 4th January 2021.
It includes obligatory sharing of data with the parent company, Facebook.
The plea stated that the updated privacy policy was forced upon its users and is absolutely unethical.