Privacy coverage: Delhi HC extends time given to FB, WhatsApp to file replies

The Delhi High Court on Friday prolonged the time granted to Facebook and WhatsApp by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for submitting replies to a discover issued to them in reference to its ongoing probe into the messaging software’s privateness coverage.
The division bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh, whereas adjourning the Facebook and WhatsApp appeals in opposition to a single-bench order declining to intrude with the CCI investigation, stated the time to file reply to the notices dated June 4 and June 8 issued by CCI to WhatsApp and Facebook, respectively, is prolonged to August 27.
The matter was adjourned as CCI made a request for it as a consequence of unavailability of Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi. Senior Advocate Harish Salve, representing WhatsApp, instructed the court docket that CCI was insisting on submitting a reply by August 5. If they’re agreeable to extending the time, the matter could be adjourned, Salve added. WhatsApp had on July 9 instructed the court docket that it’ll not be limiting the performance of its messaging app in case a consumer doesn’t consent to its newest privateness coverage and can keep the method no less than until the forthcoming information safety Bill comes into impact. The firm additionally stated it won’t compel customers in India to just accept the coverage.

CCI, the competitors regulator, had on March 24 come to a prima facie conclusion that the conduct of WhatsApp in “sharing of users’ personalised data with other Facebook companies, in a manner that is neither fully transparent nor based on voluntary and specific user consent” seems unfair to the customers.

A single bench of the HC had on April 22 dismissed the petitions by WhatsApp and Facebook, which have been arguing that the problem associated to the privateness coverage is already pending earlier than the Supreme Court and High Court. The firms approached the division bench in attraction in opposition to the single-bench choice and the CCI order.