New Delhi: Recently, the Centre urged the Delhi High Court to restrict WhatsApp new privacy policy and terms of service that are likely to be in effect from 15th May 2021. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology states this in its affidavit filed against the petition challenging the new WhatsApp privacy policy.
The petitioners, Meghan, Vikram Singh, and Seema Singh, opposed that the new policy and terms of service indicate the “crevices” in Indian data privacy laws and data protection. They said that the new policy released by Facebook-owned WhatsApp either accepts or exit the app, but it does not have the option not to share their data with third-party apps.
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As per the affidavit, the centre said “It is humbly prayed that in view of the above submissions, the Respondent No. 2 (WhatsApp) may be restrained from implementing its new privacy policy and terms of service dated January 4, 2021, from February 8, 2021, or any subsequent date pending adjudication by this court.”
Additionally, the affidavit says that the IT Rules enforce obligations on a company in the context of data security collected by it. Notably, the Rules need an entity that collects or deals with data and provide certain safeguards.
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On January 4, WhatsApp released a new privacy policy that made it mandatory for Indian users who would be denied access to the app if they do not accept the new terms and conditions. On the other hand, European WhatsApp users have the option to opt-out of the policy and they are not denied from accessing the app even if they do not accept the new terms and conditions.
