The Supreme Court questioned WhatsApp over its change in privacy policy after Facebook acquired it in 2016.
As per the new policy the instant message service can share data with the social networking platform.
A five-judge bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra raised the query while it was hearing petitions challenging WhatsApp’s privacy policy on the ground it allegedly infringed a user’s fundamental right to communicate freely.
Monday was the first day of the hearing.
During the arguments the court was told that the messaging service provider’s pre-2016 policy did not include data sharing. Senior advocate Siddhartha Luthra, lawyer for WhatsApp, denied the assertion. He said the company never snooped on messages or shared the content.
“What is shared is the phone number of the user, the identification number of the device used, user’s registration detail and last access of the service by the user,” Luthra said.
The court then asked him: “But why did you change the policy and what is the purpose for sharing the data.”