WhatsApp is now under fire for its new Privacy Policy that was introduced on the 4th of January. It was compulsory to accept those terms and conditions. If any user does not do so, the services of the instant messaging app would be blocked after February 8. A writ petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court challenging this policy as it was violative of the citizens’ Right to Privacy and threatening the National Security of India. The petition was filed by Advocate Chaitanya Rohilla, who saw the Right to Privacy was in danger. The petition said that both WhatsApp and Facebook have already been sharing their users’ data with the third party in an unauthorized manner. The new policy also gives the Company virtually a 360-degree profile into a person’s online activity. All of this was seen as a gross violation of the Right to Privacy, whose relevance was established in the Justice KS Puttaswamy & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors case. Mr. Rohilla wants the Central Government to exercise its powers under Section 79 (2) (c) read with Section 87 (2) (zg) of the Information Technology Act to ensure the users’ data and privacy are safe in all nonpublic platforms.
