The Center informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that it is presenting a new data protection measure to protect citizens’ rights, emphasising that citizens’ rights are sacred and must be protected. Karmanya Singh Sareen and Shreya Sethi, two students, challenged WhatsApp’s agreement with Meta to give access to calls, texts, photos, videos, and documents shared by users in a petition that was being heard by the Supreme Court. The measure, according to the petitioners, violates their right to privacy and free speech.
WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy is the subject of a hearing before a five-judge constitution bench, presided over by Justice K M Joseph, to determine if the policy infringes users’ rights to privacy under Article 21. Justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy, and C T Ravikumar were the other members of the jury.
According to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who is representing the Center before the court, the government has already withdrawn the previous data protection legislation and will shortly submit a new one.
Indian consumers are denied their fundamental rights despite having the highest usage rates worldwide, senior attorney Shyam Divan told the bench. The identical platform used in other nations, particularly in the European Union, operates under stricter privacy laws than those found in India.