PIL in Delhi HC claims WhatsApp violating right to privacy, threat to national security; hearing on January 18

New Delhi: A single judge bench of Justice Pratibha M. Singh of the Delhi High Court on Friday recused herself from hearing a petition against WhatsApp. Justice Singh directed that the petition filed by advocate Chaitanya Rohilla shall be listed before another single judge bench subject to the orders of the Chief Justice.

The plea will now be listed before another bench and would come up for hearing on January 18.

A PIL was on Thursday moved in the Delhi High Court alleging that WhatsApp is violating right to privacy and is a threat to national security.

The petition listed on Thursday before an SC bench challenged WhatsApps recent Terms and Privacy updation and has sought injunction against the updated Privacy Policy by WhatsApp with immediate effect.

WhatsApp has recently updated its new Terms and Privacy Policy emphasising that users will be required to agree to the same or else they may need delete their account post February 8.

This has led to a lot of discontent among users, leading to fear that now their privacy might be compromised. WhatsApp, has now clarified more on its Privacy Policy, giving an elaborate account on what it means.

"We recently updated our Privacy Policy and we have received many thoughtful questions. With some of the rumors going around, we want to answer some of the common questions we have received. We go to great lengths to build WhatsApp in a way that helps people communicate privately. We want to be clear that the policy update does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way. Instead, this update includes changes related to messaging a business on WhatsApp, which is optional, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data," WhatsApp in its updated FAQs wrote.

As per the highlights of the FAQs, the following has been summed up:

1. WhatsApp cannot see your private messages or hear your calls and neither can Facebook.

2. WhatsApp does not keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling.

3. WhatsApp cannot see your shared location and neither can Facebook.

4. WhatsApp does not share your contacts with Facebook.

5. WhatsApp groups remain private.

6. You can set your messages to disappear.

7. You can download your data.

On January 11, concerned at private group chat links being available on Google Search, WhatsApp said that they have asked Google not to index such chats and advised users not to share group chat links on publicly accessible websites. Google had indexed invite links to private WhatsApp group chats, meaning anyone can join various private chat groups with a simple search.