WhatsApp to Delhi HC: New privacy policy on hold till data protection law comes into force

WhatsApp on Friday told the Delhi High Court that it would not enforce its updated privacy policies until the Personal Data Protection Bill came into force. Appearing for WhatsApp and Facebook, senior counsel Harish Salve informed the High Court that the new privacy policies were on hold. The messaging platform also clarified before a bench of Chief justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh that it would not limit the functionality for users who are not opting for the new privacy policy in the meantime.

"The government has asked to shut down the policy. We have said we will not enforce it till the data protection bill is passed. That is open-ended because we don't know when the Bill is going to come out," Harish Salve during the hearing at the Delhi High Court.

Whatsapp: 'New privacy policy currently on hold'

Harish Salve further told the Delhi High Court: "We have said we will not do this [enforce policy] for a while. Suppose the Bill allows me to do it, we will have completely different ramifications." He said that Whatsaoo has voluntarily agreed to put it (the policy) on hold and it will not compel people to accept.

Harish Salve said, "The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology feels WhatsApp's privacy policy is against Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules 2011."

Stating that WhatsApp will not limit the functionality for some time and continue to show users the update, Salve told the Delhi HC that the messaging platform will maintain its approach until the Data Protection Bill comes into force. "We have voluntarily agreed to put the update on hold till then," he added. 

Harish Salve further pointed that the "challenge to the privacy policy and challenge to CCI order for probe are different...80 per cent to 90 per cent is related to the privacy policy challenge". The Delhi High Court court is hearing the appeals of Facebook and its firm WhatsApp against the single-judge order refusing to stop the competition regulator Competition Commission of India's (CCI) order directing a probe into WhatsApp's new privacy policy.

Whatsapp's new privacy policy

WhatsApp’s privacy policy was first announced in January and the initial roll-out was scheduled for February but, the platform delayed it till May 15, citing concerns around it. WhatsApp had said that it will use these three months to educate users and make them understand that their data is still safe.

One of the debatable points in the initial policy was that WhatsApp accounts of users who refuse to accept it will be deleted. This led to an immediate backlash and a lot of users started moving to other platforms like Signal and Telegram. The only two options offered were, either stop using the app or accept the privacy policy. On the other hand, Android users got a chance to select "Not now" which meant they initially had a way out.

Later, WhatsApp announced that it will not delete the accounts of users but would limit the functionality of the app for them. This meant that while users will continue to receive messages or calls, they won’t be able to reply to them. This made users confused about how the app will work after the restrictions come in.

This meant that while users will continue to receive messages or calls, they won’t be able to reply to them. This led to a lot of chaos. Users were confused about how the app will work after the restrictions come in.

WhatsApp v/s Indian Government

On May 18, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology asked WhatsApp to take back its new Privacy Policy calling it a violation of the already existing Indian laws and rules. It also acknowledged the social media networking site's decision to defer the policy beyond May 15, stating that deferral does not absolve WhatsApp from respecting the values of informational privacy, data security and user choice for Indian users.  

Meanwhile, WhatsApp claims its 2021 update does not affect the privacy of personal messages with friends and family in any way. Maintaining that users' personal messages will continue to be protected by end-to-end encryption, which means that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see these messages. The messaging platform gave users more than 4 months to review the update, it asserted that the law allows companies to not provide their services to users who do not consent to their terms.

(Image: Pixabay)