The Supreme Court today said it was “concerned” whether the citizens’ rights were being affected by WhatsApp’s 2016 privacy policy and asked the Centre what steps could it take for the “protection” of users till a regulation is framed.

A five-judge constitution bench, which started hearing in detail the WhatsApp privacy policy matter, also questioned the popular instant messaging application on the sharing of user data with social networking platform Facebook when it was not being done before 2016.

The apex court also said it would consider whether the court was “helpless” in framing guidelines in the absence of a regulatory regime in place to deal with the issue. “We are concerned with whether an individual’s rights are affected under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution due to this (privacy policy). They (WhatsApp) cannot say that users have agreed to it,” the bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said.