Delhi HC grants time to WhatsApp, Meta to respond to CCI

The Delhi High Court has adjourned hearing of the appeals filed by WhatsApp and its parent company Meta Platforms Inc. against a single-bench order, declining to interfere with the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) investigation into the new privacy policy of the messaging platform.

Noting that the Data Protection Bill has been tabled before the Parliament and is pending consideration, the Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh adjourned the matter to March 30.

The Delhi HC bench granted more time to WhatsApp and Meta to file their response over notices issued to them by the antitrust regulator. Last year in March, CCI had ordered a probe into the new privacy policy of WhatsApp after making a prima facie observation that it breached the Competition Act 2000.

The data-sharing policy seemed exploitative and could have exclusionary effects, which have the potential to undermine the competitive process and create further barriers to market entry, the CCI had said in its order.

On Monday, senior advocate Harish Salve appeared on behalf of WhatsApp. Earlier, WhatsApp had undertaken to not enforce its privacy policy until the time the Data Protection Bill is enacted. Salve had assured the court the company would conform with the law.

India is the largest market for WhatsApp with over 400 million users. However, the company has maintained that the privacy update, for users of business services on its platform, doesn’t compromise end-to-end encryption.

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