WhatsApp to Delhi HC: No deferment of privacy policy, trying to get users on board

Mobile messaging service WhatsApp on Monday told the Delhi High Court that it has not deferred the May 15 deadline for users to accept its new privacy policySenior advocate Kapil Sibal representing WhatsApp submitted before a bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh that it is trying to get users on board but if they do not agree to the privacy policy then the company will slowly delete these user accountsSibal submitted before the court there is no deferment of policy Additional Solicitor General ASG Chetan Sharma representing the Centre submitted there are concerns that the policy was in violation of the Information Technology Act 2000 and Rules thereunder Sharma informed the bench that the government has written to the CEO of the company and it is waiting for a reply The updated policy will allow WhatsApp to share some data about users interactions with business accounts with its parent company FacebookSenior advocate Arvind Datar representing WhatsApp along with Sibal objected to an argument made by advocate Manohar Lal who claimed that users who had not consented to the privacy policy were not being allowed to use the app Datar submitted Our privacy policy does not violate the IT Rules we can go rule by ruleThe High Court has adjourned the matter till June 3 The ASG submitted the court should record the WhatsApps counsel statement that the company will conform with the Indian law He added that the company should maintain status quo where neither the account nor the data is deleted if users revoke their consent for the new privacy policyWhatsApps counsel objected to the stay and submitted that they would not make any such statementThe High Court was hearing a plea filed by Seema Singh and law student Chaitanya Rohilla against WhatsApps new privacy policy The petitioners sought directions to the Centre to direct WhatsApp to roll back their policy or provide an option to the users of optout of the January 4 2021 update In February the High Court had issued notice on the pleaThe Centre had told the court that the new privacy policy does not provide the opportunity to review or amend the full information submitted by a user In the backdrop of 2011 IT Act the Centre had argued the new privacy policy fails to specify the types of sensitive personal data being collected and with whom this information was being sharedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever