The Centre filed a complaint with the Delhi High Court on June 3 alleging that WhatsApp is engaging in anti-user actions by proceeding with its updated privacy policy even though this does not conform to Indian IT laws.

The Centre has criticized WhatsApp in a new affidavit for collecting 'trick consent' from users for some of its amended privacy policy.

As per the Centre, the Facebook-owned messaging network has deployed its "digital wizardry" on unwary current users, compelling them to switch to the 2021 privacy policy before the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill becomes law.

“Millions of Whatsapp users who haven't yet approved the new policy are flooded with alerts every day,” the government said, requesting the court to grant an interim order prohibiting the messaging platform from sending 'push notifications' to individuals. The government also needs WhatsApp to track the number of times such alerts are sent out each day and their conversion rates.

The affidavit was presented before the commencement of the high court hearing on the matter. The court has postponed the hearing on the petitions challenging WhatsApp's new privacy policy.

The affidavit comes after WhatsApp said last week that it will proceed with its contentious privacy policy modification. It did, nevertheless, state that readers would be able to read it at "their own leisure" so a popup will be displayed with extra information.

WhatsApp afterward justified its alerts to users, and in response to the 'trick consent' charge, it stated that user privacy is of the utmost importance to the company.

As per the messaging app, its revised privacy policy came into force on May 15. However, it will not begin erasing accounts of people that have not yet approved the policy. Rather, it will urge them to join in.

During the last hearing, the Centre informed the court that it considers WhatsApp's revised privacy policy to be a breach of Indian information technology (IT) law and guidelines. It requested that the social media network clarify whether it had verified the same.

As per the Centre, by implementing the new privacy policy, WhatsApp has committed seven infractions. It further said that the amended policy breaches the Supreme Court's decision within privacy case, which declared privacy to be a basic right. The government has also appealed to WhatsApp's management, requesting that they comply with Indian laws.

In January, WhatsApp announced new rules aimed at promoting commercial transactions on the site.  The change would allow Facebook and its companies to gather user data such as phone numbers and whereabouts.

Complaints about the privacy policy have provoked a worldwide uproar. This resulted in an influx of new users to competitors like Telegram and Signal, among many others.

WhatsApp then postponed the implementation of the new policy from February to May, explaining that the upgrade was focused on permitting users to chat with companies and therefore would not affect personal communications, which will remain to be encrypted end-to-end.

In its most recent blog post, WhatsApp stated that this will begin asking users to review and approve changes to continue using the messaging network. "We would also include further information, trying to address some of the issues we've heard," it continued.