Mobile messaging service Whatsapp, on Monday, specified to the Delhi High Court that it is not going to alter the deadline within which users have to accept the privacy policy, May 15.
The social media intermediary Whatsapp, via its lawyer Kapil Sibal, told the Delhi HC that if users do not accept its new privacy policy, their accounts will be deleted.
“We’ve asked users to agree to the policy. If they don’t agree, we will delete them. There’s no deferment of the policy, says Sibal to the court.
Well, Whatsapp’s new privacy policy was introduced in January 2021 and since then, it has been into controversies because of the fact that the updated policy will allow Whatsapp to share some data about user’s conversations with business accounts with the parent company, Facebook.
A petition was filed by Seema Singh, through her advocate Meghan, and law student Chaitanya Rohilla asking Whatsapp to roll back their updated policy.
They even asked Whatsapp to either roll back their policy or provide an alternative to opt-out of their platform.
Although Whatsapp has pushed back the roll-out of the privacy policy but again in February, it came up with the decision that the updated policy will not cease to exist.
Though the center, in its affidavit, told the court that Whatsapp’s new privacy policy does not provide its users with the opportunity to alter the information submitted by them. But users are only allowed to amend/review their names, picture, and ‘about’ information.
Further, the center cited the 2011 IT Act rules specifying that Whatsapp doesn’t adhere to it plus it fails to recognize the categories of sensitive personal data.
