WhatsApp told to publicise users are not bound by co's 2021 privacy policy

New Delhi: The Supreme Court asked WhatsApp to publicise through newspaper advertisements that users are not bound to accept its 2021 privacy policy and that functionality of the instant messaging app would not be affected until the next hearing on April 11.

A five-judge constitution bench led by justice KM Joseph directed Meta-owned WhatsApp on Wednesday to give "full-page ads on two occasions in five national dailies" informing users they don't have to accept the privacy policy. It recorded a similar stand taken by WhatsApp in its May 2021 letter to the government that it will abide by the terms. However, the apex court "at this stage" refused to give a direction that users, who had agreed to its privacy policies in 2016 and 2021, be allowed to opt out and the agreement to allow use of data should not stand in the way of exiting.

"It may not be justified at this stage and may require consideration," it said.


The government and WhatsApp told the court that the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill would be placed before parliament in March and would clear all issues raised in the petitions before it and that the hearing may be deferred till then.

However, senior counsel Shyam Divan and KV Vishwanathan, appearing for the petitioners challenging the WhatsApp privacy policies, opposed any deferment, saying the same arguments that the data protection bill may translate into a law were made in 2017.