Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp Friday informed the Delhi High Court it won’t compel users to accept new privacy policy as it had been put on hold until Personal Data Protection Bill comes into effect.
Senior Advocate Harish Salve appearing for Whatsapp submitted: “We said we’ll not enforce it untill the Data Protection Bill’ will come out. In our case the government is the administrator of the Rules and we said okay we will wait till the Data Protection Bill’. The government will decide this. Then comes the competition dimensions of the practice. We said we will not do it.”
The court provided no interim protection to either Facebook or WhatsApp from CCI probe. The next hearing is on July 30.
It also clarified that it will not suspend services of users who opted not to accept the controversial new privacy update.
Delhi High Court is hearing Facebook and WhatsApp pleas challenging a single-judge bench order dismissing their pleas against the Competition Commission of India (CCI) decision.
“Update which triggered CCI probe has been put ‘voluntarily’ on hold. It PDP does not permit the revised privacy policy, the policy will anyways not stand. Will execute privacy policy only of Parliament allows. We can’t be prosecuted if Parliament allows data sharing,” WhatsApp told the single-bench court.
Last month the court had refused to stay the notice given by CCI to Facebook asking it to provide further information in relation to a probe it had initiated against the social media giant-owned messaging platform’s new privacy update which caused a panic.
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