HC REJECTS PLEA BY WHATSAPP AGAINST PRIVACY POLICY PROBE
NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Thursday dismissed a petition by Whatsapp and Facebook challenging the decision of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to investigate its new privacy policy, saying there is no merit in the plea.
Justice Navin Chawla said that though it would have been “prudent” for CCI to wait for the outcome of the petitions against the privacy policy in the Supreme Court and the Delhi high court, not doing so would not make its investigation order “perverse” or “wanting of jurisdiction”.
CCI on March 24 ordered a probe into the new privacy policy of Whatsapp to be completed within two months. It contended that the new policy would lead to excessive data collection and “stalking” of consumers.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Thursday dismissed pleas by social media platforms Facebook and Whatsapp, challenging India’s competition regulator’s order directing a probe into Whatsapp’s new privacy policy.
Justice Navin Chawla said though it would have been “prudent” for the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to await the outcome of petitions in the Supreme Court and the Delhi HC against Whatsapp’s new privacy policy, but not doing so would not make the regulator’s order “perverse” or “wanting of jurisdiction”.
The court said it saw no merit in the petitions of Facebook and Whatsapp to interdict the investigation directed by the CCI. The CCI had contended 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.
“There is no question of jurisdictional error,” it had contended and added that Whatsapp and Facebook’s pleas challenging its decision were “incompetent and misconceived”.
Whatsapp and Facebook had challenged the CCI’S March 24 order directing a probe into the new privacy policy.