The Supreme Court today referred the challenge to the WhatsApp User Policy to a Constitution Bench..A Bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud passed an order to that effect today..The genesis of the petition, filed by one Karmanya Singh Sareen, lies in the change of privacy policy of Whatsapp in 2016. Pursuant to that, WhatsApp sought to share information of users with Facebook. The petition states,.“In August 2016, suddenly Whatsapp announced a change in its privacy policy and users were asked to agree to the new privacy policy by which Whatsapp announced sweeping changes. In effect, the new Privacy Policy sought to share the entire ‘information’ including the users’ phone number, contacts and data with Facebook.”.The petitioner had challenged this in Delhi High Court, contending violation of right to privacy..The High Court, in its judgment had given a limited relief to the following extent:.“If the users opt for completely deleting “WhatsApp” account before 25.09.2016, the information/data/details of such users should be deleted completely from “WhatsApp” servers and the same shall not be shared with the “Facebook” or any one of its group companies..So far as the users who opt to remain in “WhatsApp” are concerned, the existing information/data/details of such users upto 25.09.2016 shall not be shared with “Facebook” or any one of its group companies.”.This has been challenged in the Supreme Court, with the petitioner contending that the data shared after September 25 of last is not protected..The petition states that the judgment of the High Court has created an artificial distinction between users who delete the Whatsapp Application before September 25 and those who continue to use it after September 25..When the matter was taken up today, Senior Advocate KK Venugopal, appearing for Facebook, submitted that the issue pertains to a contract between two parties. He said that the same cannot be the subject matter of litigation by way of a writ petition..He further argued that if the Right to Privacy aspect is brought in, the case will have to be heard by a Bench larger than seven because, the issue of privacy is squarely covered by seven-judge Bench judgment in MP Sharma’s case..The Court told the Senior Counsel to raise these submissions before the five-judge Constitution Bench..The matter will now be heard on April 18..On the last hearing in January this year, the Court said that it would hear the case only during the summer vacation and that Senior Advocate Harish Salve should appear and argue for the petitioner.
The Supreme Court today referred the challenge to the WhatsApp User Policy to a Constitution Bench..A Bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud passed an order to that effect today..The genesis of the petition, filed by one Karmanya Singh Sareen, lies in the change of privacy policy of Whatsapp in 2016. Pursuant to that, WhatsApp sought to share information of users with Facebook. The petition states,.“In August 2016, suddenly Whatsapp announced a change in its privacy policy and users were asked to agree to the new privacy policy by which Whatsapp announced sweeping changes. In effect, the new Privacy Policy sought to share the entire ‘information’ including the users’ phone number, contacts and data with Facebook.”.The petitioner had challenged this in Delhi High Court, contending violation of right to privacy..The High Court, in its judgment had given a limited relief to the following extent:.“If the users opt for completely deleting “WhatsApp” account before 25.09.2016, the information/data/details of such users should be deleted completely from “WhatsApp” servers and the same shall not be shared with the “Facebook” or any one of its group companies..So far as the users who opt to remain in “WhatsApp” are concerned, the existing information/data/details of such users upto 25.09.2016 shall not be shared with “Facebook” or any one of its group companies.”.This has been challenged in the Supreme Court, with the petitioner contending that the data shared after September 25 of last is not protected..The petition states that the judgment of the High Court has created an artificial distinction between users who delete the Whatsapp Application before September 25 and those who continue to use it after September 25..When the matter was taken up today, Senior Advocate KK Venugopal, appearing for Facebook, submitted that the issue pertains to a contract between two parties. He said that the same cannot be the subject matter of litigation by way of a writ petition..He further argued that if the Right to Privacy aspect is brought in, the case will have to be heard by a Bench larger than seven because, the issue of privacy is squarely covered by seven-judge Bench judgment in MP Sharma’s case..The Court told the Senior Counsel to raise these submissions before the five-judge Constitution Bench..The matter will now be heard on April 18..On the last hearing in January this year, the Court said that it would hear the case only during the summer vacation and that Senior Advocate Harish Salve should appear and argue for the petitioner.
