WHATSAPP LLC Vs. COMPETITION COMMISSION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Appellant seeks to challenge the Judgement dtd. 22/4/2021, passed by the learned Single Judge in W.P.(C) 4378/2021 and W.P.(C) 4407/2021 by which the learned Single Judge rejected the Writ Petition filed by the Appellants. The Appellants herein, by way of the abovementioned Writ Petition, had sought to challenge the Order dtd. 24/3/2021 passed by the Respondent No.1 herein directing the Director-General, CCI, to initiate investigation into the 2021 Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of the Appellant in LPA No.163/2021 on the ground that it violates the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act').

(2.) The facts, in brief, leading to the instant Appeals are as under:-

(3.) Mr. Harish Salve, learned Senior Counsel appearing for Appellant in LPA 163/2021, submits that WhatsApp provides an end-to-end encryption service for sending and receiving of messages to safeguard the privacy of its users. He submits that this very issue has been considered by this Court in Karmanya Singh Sareen and Anr. v. Union of India and Ors., W.P.(C) 7663/2016, and this Court vide Judgment dtd. 23/9/2016 had upheld the 2016 Policy by holding that the users of WhatsApp, having voluntarily opted to avail services of the said application, were bound by the terms of service offered by WhatsApp, and it is always open to users of WhatsApp who do not want their information to be shared with Facebook to opt for deletion of their accounts. Mr. Salve further relies upon Vinod Kumar Gupta v. Whatsapp Inc., (Case No. 99/2016), wherein the CCI, i.e. Respondent No.1 upheld the 2016 Policy with the finding that there had been no abuse of dominance by the Appellant. He also states that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) is in the process of promulgating a Personal Data Protection Bill and the policies of the Appellant would be answerable to the provisions stipulated in the same, and therefore, the CCI should refrain from adjudicating on this issue before the Bill is promulgated.