Indian court ruling had no impact on new data sharing policy with Facebook: WhatsApp [Updated]

UPDATE: Sept. 30, 2016, 12:51 a.m. IST WhatsApp has issued a new statement in which it says it "will" comply with the order from the Delhi High Court. A WhatsApp spokesman said, “WhatsApp will comply with the order from the Delhi High Court. We plan to proceed with the privacy policy and terms update in accordance with the Court’s order. The Court’s emphasis on the importance of user choice and consent is encouraging.” Original story follows, with additional reporting at the bottom.

WhatsApp and India's Delhi High Court may have a communication problem.

Last week, the Facebook-owned company was ordered by the Delhi High Court to delete data of users who opt out of WhatsApp's privacy policy changes before Sept. 25. WhatsApp was also asked to not use any data of users collected before Sept. 25.

But WhatsApp has told Mashable India that it is sharing information with Facebook as planned. The company said the Delhi High Court's directive hasn't impacted its planned changes in WhatsApp's terms and privacy policy, which came into effect past Sunday. "The ruling has no impact on the planned policy and terms of service updates," WhatsApp spokesperson Anne Yeh said in a statement.

WhatsApp could make a case that it's an American company so it doesn't come under India's legislation, according to Amlan Mohanty, a lawyer and internet activist. But this argument won't hold water, he added, since "they have such a vast presence in India". WhatsApp has over 100 million monthly active users in India.

WhatsApp announced last month that it will begin sharing some account information of its customers with Facebook to “improve experience across [...] services” and “fight spam and abuse.” Elaborating on its website, WhatsApp says "account information" of users include their mobile phone number as well as those of people who are in their address book. The information also includes users' "profile name, profile picture, and status message."

Days after the company made the announcement, two Indian students approached the Delhi High Court expressing privacy concerns. They alleged that changes in WhatsApp’s terms and privacy policy “endangers” privacy of millions of users, and “severely compromises the rights of its users.” They also urged WhatsApp to be more transparent about how it shares data with users, and make it easier for its customers to make critical privacy choices.

WhatsApp's decision to share some information of its users with Facebook hasn't gone unnoticed in other parts of the world either. Earlier this week the privacy regulator in Germany said Facebook was "infringing data protection law" and did not have approval to collect data of WhatsApp users in Germany. Facebook said it would appeal against the order.

The company is saying that it "will" comply with the directive, suggesting that it hasn't complied with the order just yet. Timing is especially critical here because the Delhi High Court made its decision on Sept. 23, and WhatsApp had originally planned to share some of its users' data with Facebook starting Sept. 25. As you can imagine, this raises a number of questions. We have asked the company for more details, and will update the post when we hear back.