Facebook-owned WhatsApp on Thursday reiterated thatprivacy of users remains its highest priority and it will maintain its standtill the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill becomes law in India, after theCentre told the Delhi High Court that WhatsApp was obtaining "trickconsent" from its users for its updated 2021 privacy policy ahead of thepending PDP Bill.
The company said that it will maintain this approach"until at least the forthcoming PDP law comes into effect".
The reaction came after the Centre claimed that WhatsAppis indulging in anti-users' practices by obtaining "trick consent"from its users for its updated privacy policy, under a game plan to transferthe existing users committed to its policy.
"We reiterate that we have already responded to theGovernment of India and assured them that the privacy of users remains ourhighest priority. As a reminder, the recent update does not change the privacyof people's personal messages," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in astatement.
"We will not limit the functionality of how WhatsAppworks in the coming weeks. Instead, we will continue to remind users from timeto time about the update as well as when people choose to use relevant optionalfeatures, like communicating with a business that is receiving support fromFacebook," the spokesperson said.
The Centre said that WhatsApp is currently having accessto personal, sensitive personal and business data of hundreds of millions ofIndian users and has also acquired a role that an "essential digitalservice" during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It is submitted that millions of WhatsApp existingusers, those who have not accepted the updated 2021 privacy policy are beingbombarded with notifications on an everyday basis," said the affidavitfrom the Centre, citing a screenshot of the push notification and urged thecourt to restrain WhatsApp from "pushing notifications" to its users.
The Facebook-owned platform that has filed a lawsuitagainst the Indian government in Delhi High Court over chat 'traceability',went ahead with implementing its controversial user privacy policy from May 15,saying that those who do not accept new changes will see limited functionalityin the coming weeks.
Later, WhatsApp said that it will not limitfunctionalities for users who do not accept the new privacy policy.