WhatsApp told the Delhi High Court on Friday that till the data protection bill comes into force, it would not compel users to opt for its new privacy policy as it has been put on hold. WhatsApp also clarified before a bench of Chief justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh that it would not limit the functionality for users who are not opting for new privacy policy in the meantime.

Appearing for the instant messaging platform, Senior Advocate Harish Salve said, "We voluntarily agreed to put it (the policy) on hold... we will not compel people to accept." Salve said that WhatsApp would nonetheless continue to display the update to its users.

"We reiterate that the privacy of users remains our highest priority. As a reminder, the recent update does not change the privacy of people's personal messages. Its purpose is to provide additional information about how people can interact with businesses if they choose to do so. We will not limit the functionality of how WhatsApp works in the coming weeks. Instead, we will continue to remind users from time to time about the update as well as when people choose to use relevant optional features, like communicating with a business that is receiving support from Facebook. We hope this approach reinforces the choice that all users have whether or not they want to interact with a business. We will maintain this approach until at least the forthcoming PDP law comes into effect,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said.

The court is hearing the appeals of Facebook and its firm WhatsApp against the single-judge order refusing to stop the competition regulator CCI's order directing a probe into WhatsApp's new privacy policy.

(With inputs from PTI)

First Published:Jul 9, 2021 12:36 PM IST