WhatsApp vs Govt: in two cases in HC, each side contradicts itself
Two cases in Delhi High Court, both Centre vs WhatsApp, have user privacy at their heart. However, in each of these cases, both sides have made arguments that are diametrically opposite to what they have argued in the other case, throwing up inherent contradictions in the positions they have taken.
In the first case, WhatsApp is defending its privacy policy update of 2021, which asks users to sign up to its data-sharing policy with Facebook group companies, while the Centre is opposing the policy update on grounds including “violation of informational privacy”.
The Centre has argued that WhatsApp is indulging in anti-user practices by obtaining “trick-consent”, and alleged that its entire existing user base is being made to accept the terms and conditions before the pending Personal Data Protection Bill becomes law.
In the second case, WhatsApp has argued that the Centre’s new IT intermediary guidelines that require significant social media platforms to provide traceability of first originator of unlawful messages is a “dangerous invasion of privacy”, and poses “a threat to free speech”.
