WhatsApp, Facebook plea in privacy policy matter to be heard in August

The Delhi High Court Friday said it will hear on August 27 the appeals of Facebook and WhatsApp against its single-judge order dismissing their pleas against the probe Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered into the instant messaging app's new privacy policy.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh listed the matter in August after Additional Solicitor General Balbir Singh, representing CCI, sought some time to respond to the pleas.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing WhatsApp, said if the CCI does not insist on filing a reply by August 5 to the June 4 notice asking it to furnish certain information in relation to the probe, they do not have a problem.

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WhatsApp and Facebook, represented through senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, have also challenged the CCI’s June 4 and 8 notices respectively, asking them to furnish certain information for the purpose of inquiry conducted by it.

The high court listed the pleas for hearing on August 27, while extending the time to file replies to the June 4 and 8 notices issued by CCI to WhatsApp and Facebook, till then.

The case relates to the appeals of Facebook and WhatsApp against a single judge order dismissing their pleas against the probe CCI ordered into the instant messaging app's new privacy policy.

The division bench of the high court had on May 6 issued notices on the appeals and asked the Centre to respond to it.

The single judge on April 22 had said though it would have been "prudent" for the CCI to await the outcome of petitions in the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court against WhatsApp's new privacy policy, not doing so would not make the regulator's order "perverse" or "wanting of jurisdiction".

The court had said it saw no merit in the petitions of Facebook and WhatsApp to interdict the investigation directed by the CCI.

The CCI had contended before the single judge that it was not examining the alleged violation of individuals' privacy which was being looked into by the Supreme Court.

It had argued before the court that the new privacy policy of WhatsApp would lead to excessive data collection and "stalking" of consumers for targeted advertising to bring in more users and is therefore an alleged abuse of dominant position.

WhatsApp and Facebook had challenged the CCI's March 24 order directing a probe into the new privacy policy.

In January, the CCI on its own decided to look into WhatsApp's new privacy policy on the basis of news reports regarding the same.