Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 9: WhatsApp has issued a caution that it may close shop in India, if Parliament did not allow its privacy policy. It, however, has given an assurance that till Parliament take a decision, the messaging app would not interfere with the users even those who have not yet accepted its latest privacy policy.
WhatsApp on Friday told the Delhi High Court that it would not limit the functionality of its messaging app even in case a user did not consent to its latest privacy policy and would maintain the approach at least till the forthcoming data protection Bill come into effect.
The Centre had earlier told WhatsApp to withdraw its policy.
“We will continue to display our updates from time to time to people who have not accepted. In addition, we will display the update whenever a user chooses relevant optional features, like when a user communicates with a business receiving support from Facebook,” Senior Advocate Harish Salve, representing WhatsApp, told the court.
The court was hearing an appeal against the Competition Commission of India’s ongoing probe into WhatsApp’s privacy policy.
Salve, while explaining the latest position, submitted that “the update (of policy) which triggered the enquiry of CCI is for the present… we have voluntarily agreed to put it on hold.” A WhatsApp spokesperson clarified that the statement was made in context of only those users who have not yet consented to the privacy policy.
He further said if Parliament did not permit such a policy in future, WhatsApp would either close shop in India or would not implement it.
“The commitment is that I will not do anything till the parliamentary law comes. Obviously then if parliamentary law comes, you have to fit within that law. If Parliament allows me to have a separate policy for India, I will have it. If it does not allow me, then bad luck. I will then have to take a call,” Salve said.
WhatsApp and Facebook have approached the High Court against the CCI order dated March 24, in which the competition regulator came to a prima facie conclusion that the conduct of WhatsApp in “sharing of users’ personalised data with other Facebook companies, in a manner that is neither fully transparent nor based on voluntary and specific user consent” appears unfair to users. The CCI had ordered the DG to complete the investigation within 60 days.
A single-judge bench of the High Court had on April 22 dismissed the petitions filed by WhatsApp and Facebook which have been arguing that the issue related to the privacy policy was already pending before the Supreme Court and High Court. The companies have approached the division bench in appeal against the single-bench decision and the CCI order.