Court Seeks Competition Regulator's Stand On Facebook, WhatsApp Pleas

WhatsApp and Facebook had challenged the CCI's March 24 order directing a probe into the new privacy policy.

The Delhi High Court Thursday asked the Competition Commission of India to reply on the appeals of Facebook and WhatsApp against a single judge order dismissing their pleas against the probe CCI ordered into the instant messaging app's new privacy policy. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh issued notice to the CCI which had ordered the probe and sought its response by May 21, the next date of hearing. The single judge on April 22 had said though it would have been "prudent" for the CCI to await the outcome of petitions in the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court against WhatsApp's new privacy policy, not doing so would not make the regulator''s order "perverse" or "wanting of jurisdiction". The court had said it saw no merit in the petitions of Facebook and WhatsApp to interdict the investigation directed by the CCI.