Delhi High Court Issues Notice On New Plea Against WhatsApp’s Privacy Policy Update

WhatsApp’s notification of its new privacy policy, which was made mandatory for Indian users and optional for users from the EU, has triggered a host of petitions across the country challenging its application. The Delhi High Court issued notice on one such plea filed before the bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh, and sought responses of the Centre and WhatsApp on the petition. The petition, filed by one Dr. Seema Singh, and argued by Adv. Meghan, states that the new WhatsApp privacy policy released on Jan 4, 2021 is violative of the fundamental right to privacy under Article 21, because while its old privacy policy which was issued on Jul 20, 2020 provided the users to opt in or out of data sharing with other Facebook companies, the new policy does not provide the users any option to protect their personal data by opting out of their policy.