The petition had sought a stay on a notice issued by the CCI asking them to submit certain documents in connection with the investigation being carried out on WhatsApp’s new privacy policy.
The Delhi High Court has dismissed a fresh petition by Facebook and WhatsApp, seeking a stay on the notices issued by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). In the notice, some documents have been asked to be submitted in connection with the investigation being done on the new privacy policy of WhatsApp. A vacation bench of Justices Anoop Jairam Bhambhani and Jasmeet Singh said a similar application to stay further steps in the investigation had already been filed by WhatsApp and Facebook before the regular bench hearing the primary matter.
WhatsApp and its owner Facebook were not granted any interim relief by the regular bench of the High Court on May 6, the previous date of hearing. “For the last reason, we do not think it appropriate to stay at this stage the operation of the impugned notice dated June 4, 2021,” the bench said. However, the High Court said, “There can be no doubt that the issue of the 4th June notice by the Director General of CCI was a step to carry forward the investigation initiated as per the order.”
Solicitor General Aman Lekhi, representing the CCI, had said that it would take sufficient time to prepare the report as per the receipt of the information sought through the notice. Lekhi said the report would not be completed before the next date of hearing before the regular bench at least on July 9.
Let us tell you that the latest application of Facebook and WhatsApp was made in a pending case filed by them, challenging the March 24 direction of the CCI, which had ordered an inquiry into WhatsApp’s controversial new privacy policy. Facebook and WhatsApp sought the court’s intervention to stay the CCI’s June 4 notice, in which it had asked them to provide certain information for the purpose of investigation.
WhatsApp had said that its new privacy policy has come into effect from May 15. It also made it clear that it would not start deleting accounts of users who did not accept it and would try to encourage them to come on board. CCI, on the other hand, had said that it is dealing with the new privacy policy of the instant messaging app, which could lead to “higher data collection”, use and sharing of data in an anti-competitive context by consumers.
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