[BREAKING] WhatsApp Privacy Policy to be put on hold till Data Protection Bill takes effect: Harish Salve tells Delhi High Court

WhatsApp today informed the Delhi High Court that it has decided to put on hold its controversial privacy policy update until the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 comes into force (WhatsApp LLC v. Competition Commission of India).

. Senior Advocate Harish Salve made the submission today on behalf of WhatsApp before a Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh.

. " Government has asked to shut down the policy. We have said we will not enforce it till Data Protection Bill comes out. T hat is open-ended because we dont know when the Bill is going to come out...We have said we will not do this for a while. Suppose the Bill allows me to do it, we will have completely different ramifications" , Salve submitted.

. Salve also informed the Court that the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has communicated to WhatsApp that it feels that the WhatsApp Privacy Policy is against the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information), Rules, 2011.

. " We replied to MEITY's notice seeking a response, saying that WhatsApp will not limit functionality for some time and continue to show users the updated (version...We will maintain this approach until Data Protection Bill comes into force. We have voluntarily agreed to put the update on hold till then ," Salve said.

. Salve went on to argue that in this background, CCI's probe into the issue was moot.

"CCI is inquiring into a policy that I have taken off. If Parliament allows me to share data, CCI cannot say anything."

The Court then queried as to whether the messaging application had a separate policy for India and for Europe. In response, Salve said,

"The commitment is that I will not do anything till Parliamentary law comes. If Parliament allows me to have a separate policy for India, I will have it. If it doesn't, I will take a call."

. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi , appearing for Facebook, also called into question the jurisdiction of CCI to probe the matter.

"Supreme Court is hearing appeal against WhatsApp privacy policy. Even assuming there is suo motu jurisdiction, can this matter be inquired into by CCI when it is before a superior constitutional authority?"

. On the contrary, Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi , appearing for CCI said,

"They are not enforcing compliance. But the policy is in place; it is not the statement of WhatsApp that they are giving it up. As long as policy stands, competition law issues persist..."

. Towards the end of the hearing, Salve sought 2-3 weeks to reply to the notices sent by CCI. After hearing the parties, the Court eventually adjourned the matter to the end of the month.

. On the last date of hearing, the Court had refused to stay a June 4 notice of the CCI seeking more information about the WhatsApp privacy policy. While doing so, the Court issued notice in the applications filed by WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook seeking restraint on coercive action pursuant to the notice.

. On May 6 this year, the Court had issued notice in the appeals filed by WhatsApp and Facebook against the Single Judge order refusing to set aside the CCI probe into the messaging platform's privacy policy.

. In April this year, a Single Judge Bench of Justice Navin Chawla opined that the order of investigation could not be quashed merely because the Commission did not await the outcome of the pending cases before the Supreme Court and High Court.

. Facebook and WhatsApp had moved the High Court against the CCI order calling for a Director General (DG) probe to ascertain the full extent, scope and impact of data sharing through involuntary consent of users.

.Breaking: CCI calls for DG investigation into WhatsApp Privacy Policy

[BREAKING] WhatsApp Privacy Policy to be put on hold till Data Protection Bill takes effect: Harish Salve tells Delhi High Court

Aditya AK

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