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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday has asked the Centre and Facebook to respond with a forward-action. The plea challenged the new WhatsApp Privacy Policy. A Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice to the MeitY and WhatsApp seeking their stand on the plea by March. Seema Singh and Meghan Singh have filed the petition in Delhi HC. They have contended that the new privacy policy indicates the “fissures” in Indian data protection and privacy laws.
On the matter, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma said the Centre has sent out questionnaires to WhatsApp on various issues seeking answers. He also said a joint parliamentary committee is looking into the matter. This is a second petition that challenges the WhatsApp Privacy Policy. Before this, a plea, filed in the Supreme Court, sought guidelines to safeguard the personal data and privacy of over 400 million Indian users of WhatsApp.
Other petitions
Earlier, law student Chaitanya Rohilla had challenged the new privacy policy on its terms and conditions. The court, while hearing Rohilla’s plea, had said WhatsApp is a private application. It said that people didn't need to download it if they had problems with its new policy. The matter is likely to be heard on March 1.
Before Rohilla's petition, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also filed a plea in the SC. It also challenged the new privacy policy. It further stated that this move shows that the Centre has failed to discharge its constitutional duty and responsibility by protecting the privacy rights of citizens forcing the petitioner to approach the top court. The organisation wanted the SC to direct the Centre to carry out 'Technical Audits' of Facebook data centres where it stored Indian user data.
Response from Facebook and WhatsApp
After the uproar from netizens, WhatsApp has issued several messages, WA Statuses and even sought adds on Facebook and Instagram. It has tried to make clear that the messages are encrypted. In fact, they themselves can’t read it. “We have only made a change concerning Business WhatsApp,” the company alleges. Earlier, the messenger company had made it mandatory for the users to accept the new conditions by February 8. But after the uproar, it has shifted its business plans until after May 2021. The company states that it aims “to give users more time to review and understand the latest terms.”
The company maintains that the latest Privacy Policy enables users with the following business-related options:
• Enabling customer service through the platform in terms of chatting with business or asking questions.
• Personalised ads for users based on the ads they click on Facebook on Instagram and helping users chatting with those business owners through a dedicated WhatsApp icon.
• Some businesses with a shop on Facebook or Instagram can also have shops on their WhatsApp business profile. This will allow users to see a business’s products on Facebook and Instagram and shop from it directly through WhatsApp.