Supreme Court junks PIL on withdrawal of WhatsApp’s new policy

New Delhi, February 5

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a PIL seeking a direction to WhatsApp to withdraw its new privacy policy that allegedly violated citizens’ right to privacy and affected national security.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde told petitioner Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) that the issue was already pending before the Delhi High Court.

WhatsApp has already announced delaying by three months the implementation of its new privacy policy that has caused concerns among millions of its users, many of whom started to move to its rivals such as Signal and Telegram. It was originally scheduled to come into effect on February 8. Amid demands for rollback of WhatsApp’s new policy, CAIT had on January 16 moved the top court seeking protection of citizens’ right to privacy. — TNS