The plea seeks a direction to WhatsApp to roll back its policy.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to instant messaging platform WhatsApp to roll back its recently-launched new privacy policy on the ground that it is violative of laws and can impact the country's security.
The plea filed by the Confederation of All India Traders has also sought a direction to the Centre to intervene in the matter and frame guidelines to govern large technology-based companies such as WhatsApp Inc., Facebook Inc. and Facebook India Online Services Private Limited.
The petition filed through advocate Vivek Narayan Sharma says the PIL was necessitated due to the failure of the Centre in carrying out its constitutional duty and responsibility to protect the rights to privacy and freedom of speech and expression of the citizens of India.
"The respondent no.1 -- Union of India -- has granted permission to respondent nos 2 to 4 to run the WhatsApp application in India, but has failed to play the role of a guardian to protect the fundamental rights of citizens in as much as WhatsApp, which is rendering essential public services by enabling citizens to communicate, has recently imposed unconstitutional privacy conditions which are not only violative of the law but can impact the national security of the country," it says.
The plea says the Centre has failed to impose necessary and restrictive conditions in the instant case, while the European Union's (EU) Antitrust Authority imposed serious restrictions on the proposed policy of WhatsApp and a fine of 110 million euros on the instant messaging platform in 2017.
"...on January 4, 2021, WhatsApp introduced its new privacy policy through which it scrapped its ''opt-out policy'' and from now on, users will have to compulsorily consent to share their data with Facebook and its group companies for using the platform. The new policy will come into effect from February 8, 2021," it says.
The petitioner said the updated privacy policy of WhatsApp would adversely impact the citizens' fundamental right to privacy and is also fundamentally opposed to their representation.
"Today, high government officials like ministers and members of Parliament, judges, senior bureaucrats, defence personnel, crores of traders and well-known businessmen and so on use WhatsApp for sharing confidential and personal information and the compromise in the privacy policy would result in serious repercussions even for the national security of India," the plea says.
It says that aggrieved by the impugned policy of WhatsApp and its impact thereof, the petitioner had written to the Centre, asking it to intervene in the matter and vide its powers provided under the applicable law, direct WhatsApp to roll back it policy or alternatively, ask the firm to cease its operations in India.