WhatsApp’s new policies anti-user, Centre tells Delhi High Court
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The Indian government has hit back at WhatsApp’s new privacy policies by calling them “anti-user” and telling the Delhi High Court that the chat platform is trying to trick people into giving consent.
The Centre says WhatsApp is spamming users with notifications to try and coerce them into accepting the new policies and transfer the existing user base before the Personal Data Protection (PDP) bill comes into effect.
The Centre demanded that WhatsApp be stopped from pushing these notifications on users and to produce a record to the court of the number of notifications they have pushed so far and the total number of users they have managed to convince.
As reported by Bar and Bench, the affidavit filed with the court states that, “Respondent No.2 (WhatsApp) has unleashed its digital prowess to the unsuspecting existing users and would like to force them to accept the updated 2021 privacy policy by flashing such notifications at a regular intervals. The game plan is very clear, i.e., to transfer the entire existing user base committed to the updated 2021 privacy policy before the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill becomes the law.”
The Centre also says that the Competition Commission of India is of the opinion that it has gone against Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002 “through its exploitative and exclusionary conduct, in the garb of policy update.”
Del HC has now adjourned hearing of pleas challenging Whatsapp’s revised privacy policy.