The Supreme Court on Tuesday warned tech giant and WhatsApp owners Meta over the instant messaging platform's privacy policy.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday warned tech giant and WhatsApp owner Meta over the instant messaging platform's privacy policy and said that the Court will not allow them to exploit the personal data of Indians. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant reprimanded the US company, "You can't play with the privacy of our country... we will not allow you to share a single digit of our data" and said it could leave India if the country's laws are not followed.
The court was hearing their appeals against a Competition Commission of India order imposing a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore over the privacy policy, saying tech giants cannot “play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing”.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said that it will pass an interim order on February 9. The top court ordered that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology be made a party to the petitions.
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‘You Can’t Play With Citizens’ Rights’: SC Slams Meta, WhatsApp
It was hearing appeals filed by Meta and WhatsApp against a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) judgment that upheld the CCI’s findings of abuse of dominance, while granting limited relief on advertising-related data sharing.
"You can't play with the right of privacy of this country in the name of data sharing. We will not allow you to share a single word of the data, either you give an undertaking...you cannot violate the right of privacy of citizens,” the CJI said.
The bench said the right to privacy is zealously guarded in the country and noted that the privacy terms are “so cleverly crafted” that a common person cannot understand them.
“This is a decent way of committing theft of private information, we will not allow you to do that... You have to give an undertaking otherwise, we have to pass an order,” the CJI said.
Background
The case stems from a November 2024 order of the Competition Commission of India examining WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy update. The regulator concluded that WhatsApp, which holds a dominant position in India’s OTT messaging market, imposed a “take-it-or-leave-it” policy, leaving users with no meaningful opt-out.
According to the CCI, WhatsApp made continued access to its messaging services conditional on users consenting to expanded data sharing with other Meta group companies, amounting to an abuse of dominance under the Competition Act, 2002.
The CCI imposed a Rs 213.14 crore penalty on Meta Platforms and issued remedial directions, including prohibiting forced data sharing, mandating clear opt-in and opt-out mechanisms, and requiring detailed disclosures on data usage across Meta’s platforms.
Meta and WhatsApp challenged the order before the NCLAT in January 2025. In November 2025, the tribunal set aside the five-year restriction on advertising-related data sharing and overturned the finding of unlawful leveraging of dominance into Meta’s advertising ecosystem, but upheld the Rs 213.14 crore penalty.
