The Supreme Court issued notice to WhatsApp and Facebook and will hear the case after four weeks.
The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Centre and two social media platforms, Facebook and WhatsApp saying that there was apprehension among the users regarding their data being shared while hearing the plea that has challenged its latest privacy policy.
In January, WhatsApp renewed its terms of service and privacy policy, stating that its users must agree to its new data sharing norms, which includes business conversations with Facebook. The new policy that is not optional was supposed to come into effect on February 8 but was postponed amid concerns over privacy. A bench of Chief Justice of India S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said that people's privacy must be protected and it is their duty to do so."You (Facebook and WhatsApp) may be two or three trillion (dollar) company but people value their privacy more than money.
It is our duty to protect people's privacy," said the Apex Court on Monday. WhatsApp and Facebook being represented by Kapil Sibal and Arvind Datar, denied the allegations.
The top court was hearing a petition filed by Internet Freedom Foundation that has challenged the new privacy policy of WhatsApp. Shyam Divan who is appearing for the petitioner, said that WhatsApp was differentiating among the countries as the new policy is not applicable in Europe.To this Mr Sibal replied that Europe has a special law (General Data Protection Regulations) while India does not have any such law. He further added that the company will follow the law if Parliament legislates. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta then told the court whether there was a law or not, privacy must be protected as it was a fundamental right. He also said the court's apprehension over data was shared by the nation. The court then issued notice to WhatsApp and Facebook and posted the matter for consideration after four weeks.
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