New Whatsapp policy Could lead to stalking: CCI tells Delhi HC

The court was hearing a plea by WhatsApp and Facebook challenging a decision of the CCI directing a probe into the new privacy policy.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Tuesday told the Delhi high court that social media intermediary WhatsApp’s new privacy policy is likely to lead to excessive data collection and “stalking” of consumers for targeted advertising to bring in more users.

“It (the CCI order) appears to be concerned with the privacy issues of consumers,” Justice Navin Chawla said in response(Representative image/AFP)

“It (the CCI order) appears to be concerned with the privacy issues of consumers,” Justice Navin Chawla said in response to the CCI stand that the regulator was not examining the alleged violation of individuals’ privacy which was being looked into by the Supreme Court.

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The court was hearing a plea by WhatsApp and Facebook challenging a decision of the CCI directing a probe into the new privacy policy.

Senior advocate Aman Lekhi appearing for CCI told the court that it was looking at the competition aspect and not on the privacy violation of an individual. “There is no question of jurisdictional error,” he said adding that the pleas were “incompetent and misconceived”.

HT tried reaching WhatsApp spokesperson but there was no response