WhatsApp has been again alleged to trick people into accepting its new privacy policy that went into effect on May 15, 2021. The messaging platform, however, has confirmed that it won’t limit any features for users who do not accept the new policy, but a new affidavit claims that the company is using tricks to get consent from users in India.
The controversy around WhatsApp’s new privacy policy doesn’t seem to die down any time soon. The latest development around the new privacy policy that was introduced in January this year has the Centre and WhatsApp face-to-face in the Delhi High Court. In a fresh affidavit, the Centre tells Delhi High Court that WhatsApp indulges in anti-users practices by obtaining ‘trick consent’ from users for its updated privacy policy.
The Centre on Thursday filed a new affidavit where it claimed that the Facebook-owned messaging app is using anti-users practices to get the user consent for the new privacy policy. ANI says that the Centre has submitted the new affidavit in the Delhi High Court against WhatsApp.
The government has alleged that WhatsApp is using its digital expertise to get existing users to accept the latest privacy policy.
The Centre submits before Delhi HC that WhatsApp has unleashed its digital prowess to existing users & would force them to accept the updated 2021 privacy policy, to transfer the existing user base committed to the updated privacy policy before Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill becomes law.
The government has also alleged that the way WhatsApp is pushing its current notifications to its users to accept its refreshed privacy policy is “against the very grain of prima facie opinion of the Competition Commission of India’s order dated March 24, 2021,” adds ANI citing the new affidavit.
The Centre urged Delhi HC to issue interim direction to WhatsApp to desist from any action of ‘push notifications’ onto users related to the updated 2021 privacy policy and to place on the record number of times such notifications are being pushed daily & their conversion rate.
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