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The Delhi High Court today extended time granted to WhatsApp to file response to Competition Commission of India's (CCI) notice seeking information for probe into WhatsApp's new privacy policy till Oct 11.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh was hearing an appeal against the single judge order dismissing a petition filed by WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook, challenging CCI's order for a probe against Whatsapp’s New Privacy Policy for being violative of India's competition laws.

Earlier Salve appearing for WhatsApp had informed the Court that the new Whatsapp Privacy Policy is put on hold until the Personal Data Protection Bill comes into effect.

In June, the vacation bench comprising Justices Anup Jairam Bhambhani and Jasmeet Singh had refused to stay the Jun 4, 2021 notice issued by the Director General (DG), Competition Commission of India, seeking information investigate WhatsApp's new policy.

The bench in its order had observed that there was an overlap of prayers sought by WhatsApp in its earlier application and the present application and an application seeking stay of further steps in the investigation had already been filed on which notice has been issued to the DG by the Division Bench. 

Considering that no interim relief was given by the division bench to WhatsApp on May 5, 2021  or thereafter; and that the matter was already listed before the division bench (Roster Bench) for further consideration on Jul 9, 2021, the bench had said it did “not consider it appropriate to stay the operation of impugned notice dated 04.06.2021, at this stage.”

Case Title: Whatsapp LLC vs Competition Commission of India / Facebook Inc Vs Competition Commission of India
Edited by Shreya Agarwal