WhatsApp sharing sensitive data with Facebook companies envisaged in its policy: Delhi HC

A division bench of the Delhi High Court which on Thursday had dismissed the appeals of WhatsApp and Facebook challenging a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order calling for an investigation into the messaging apps’ new privacy policy said that the 2021 policy, however, places its users in a “take-it-or-leave-it” situation, virtually forcing its users into agreement by providing a mirage of choice, and then sharing their sensitive data with Facebook companies envisaged in the policy. The bench of Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad in its detail judgement said that “the Court finds merit in the submission of the ASGs appeared for CCI that one of the key issues with the 2021 Policy is its propensity to share the data of its users with Facebook Inc., the parent company of WhatsApp. Solely for the reason that the policies itself do not emanate out of Facebook Inc., the Appellant cannot hide behind the fact that it is the direct and immediate beneficiary of the data sharing mechanism envisaged by the policies. Court also stated in Judgement that It is not in dispute that WhatsApp occupies a dominant position in the relevant product market and that there exists a…
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