New Delhi: On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court reserved the order on WhatsApp pleas challenging the order of the Competition Commission of India(CCI) for an investigation into the new privacy policy of the app. Two petitions were heard by the Court challenging the order of March 24 passed by CCI directing a probe into the new privacy policy and that the investigation should be completed within 60 days.
The issue of WhatsApp privacy policy is being heard by the Supreme court and so Facebook and WhatsApp stated that there was no requirement of CCI to order the probe.
While representing Facebook, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi said that the proceedings of CCI must be kept in abeyance. When Facebook bought the messaging app, in 2016, WhatsApp started a policy and it was challenged in the SC and the Centre had submitted to have a proper framework on this.
WhatsApp has recently come up with a new update that does not change the privacy policy but had given an opt-out to its pre-2016 customers. The council said that privacy is a constitutional concept and it is not for the CCI to decide. The lawyer for WhatsApp said, “Respect for privacy is coded in our DNA since we started WhatsApp”.