The Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that WhatsApp was treating Indian users differently from its European ones with regard to opting out of its new privacy policy, and this was a matter of concern for the government which is looking into it.
The central government told the high court that it was also a matter of concern that Indian users were being "unilaterally" subjected to the change in privacy policy by social networking platform WhatsApp.
The submissions were made before Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva by Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma during hearing of a petition by a lawyer against the new privacypolicy of the social networking platform owned by Facebook.
Duringthe hearing, Sharma told the court that by not giving Indian users the optionto opt out of sharing their data with other companies of Facebook, WhatsApp prima facie appears to be treating users with an "all or nothing approach".
"This leverages the social significance of WhatsApp to force users into a bargain which may infringe on their interests in information privacy and information security," he told the court.
Sharma said the government was already looking into the issue and has sent a communication to WhatsApp seeking certain information.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for WhatsApp, told the court that the communication has been received and will be responded to.
The court, thereafter, listed the matter for hearing on March 1.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU