WhatsApp on Friday informed Delhi High Court that they have voluntarily put updated privacy policy on hold. Whatsapp also clarified before 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.
The instant messaging app also told court that it will not limit functionality for users not opting for new privacy policy. It added, "We will not compel users to opt for new privacy policy till data protection bill comes into force."
“The commitment is that I will not do anything till parliamentary law comes,” Senior Advocate Harish Salve, representing WhatsApp, told the court.
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Senior Advocate Harish Salve said, "We voluntarily agreed to put it (the policy) on hold... we will not compel people to accept."
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.
Last month the centre told the Delhi High Court that WhatsApp was trying to "force" users in to accepting the new policy before the Personal Data Protection Bill becomes the law.
It was doing so by bombarding users with daily notifications to obtain consent, the centre said.
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The new policy had to come into effect in early February, but the company delayed rollout, initially to mid-May, after concerns from the public and experts prompted the government to step in. The company also faced backlash from users in other countries.
In May the company told the government that privacy of its users was the highest priority.
WIth PTI inputs
