An application was filed by two college students in the Supreme Court in the recent case seeking directions to be issued to WhatsApp not to lower privacy standards for Indian Users, and to apply the same privacy policy and terms to use to Indian users is being applied in the European Region. In this application, the petitioners contended that the manner in which the new privacy policy of WhatsApp was framed and the terms of the new policy result in grave affront to the fundamental right of privacy of crores of Indian citizens using WhatsApp on a daily basis.
These students initially filed the application in Delhi High Court challenging the 2016 privacy policy. The Court granted a partial relief stating that the data of those WhatsApp Users who delete WhatsApp before the 2016 policy came into effect- cannot be used for any purposes as laid down in the 2016 privacy policy.
Later, WhatsApp updated its user policy on January 4, 2021, in view of which this fresh affidavit was filed by the petitioners before the Supreme Court on January 5, 2021. After hearing the application, Supreme Court has sought response of the Central government, Facebook and WhatsApp in a plea challenging the privacy policy.
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