Allahabad HC Issues Notice to Amitabh Thakur in WhatsApp Service Disruption Case

The Allahabad High Court has issued notice to Amitabh Thakur in a plea by WhatsApp challenging a UP State consumer commission's ruling that upheld a complaint over a WhatsApp six-hour service outage.

Thakur claimed the outage violated WhatsApp’s terms and adversely affected his work. The District Consumer Commission had dismissed the complaint, citing the app’s free service status, but the State Commission reversed this, holding the case maintainable.

WhatsApp contends that free service users are not “consumers” under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and questions the state commission’s jurisdiction and reasoning. Proceedings are currently stayed awaiting further orders.