Abide by letter to govt, WhatsApp told

New Delhi, February 1

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed WhatsApp to widely publicise its 2021 undertaking given to the Centre that users weren’t bound to accept its new privacy policy and the mobile messaging app will not limit functionality for those not agreeing to it.

“We record that the stand taken in the letter (to the government) and we record the submission of the senior counsel for WhatsApp that they will abide by the terms of the letter…till the next date of hearing,” a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice KM Joseph said, asking it to publicise this aspect in five national newspapers on two occasions.

It should be a full-page advertisement and necessarily contain the undertaking carried out in WhatsApp’s letter dated May 22, 2021 to the government, the Bench said, adding, the publicity of the May 22, 2021 undertaking would benefit those users who have not agreed to the terms of the 2021 privacy policy.

The Bench, which also included Justice Ajay Rastogi, Justice Aniruddha Bose, Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice CT Ravikumar, posted the matter for further hearing on April 11.

India is the biggest market for WhatsApp which has 53 crore users in India. However, its rival platforms such as — Telegram and Signal — have registered a significant surge in the number of users.

The order came on a plea by two students — Karmanya Singh Sareen and Shreya Sethi — challenging the contract entered into between WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook to provide access to calls, photographs, texts, videos and documents shared by users is a violation of their privacy and free speech.

Publicise 2021 undertaking

The SC has directed WhatsApp to widely publicise its 2021 undertaking given to the Centre that users weren’t bound to accept its new privacy policy and the mobile messaging app will not limit functionality for those not agreeing to it.