New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday strongly criticised Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp over their privacy policies, saying tech giants cannot “play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing.” The top court will pass an interim order on February 9 and direct that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology be made a party to the petitions.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi was hearing appeals filed by Meta and WhatsApp against a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) judgment. The appeals challenge a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order imposing a Rs 213.14 crore penalty over WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy. The NCLAT had upheld the CCI’s findings of abuse of dominance while granting limited relief on advertising-related data sharing.
“You cannot 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 to privacy of citizens,” the Chief Justice said. The bench emphasised that privacy is zealously guarded in India and noted that WhatsApp’s privacy terms are “so cleverly crafted” that a common user 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 warned. Highlighting WhatsApp’s dominant market position, he said the platform had created a monopoly and was “making a mockery of constitutionalism” by undermining citizens’ privacy rights.
Questioning the effectiveness of consent, the Chief Justice said, “Will a poor woman selling fruits on the street understand your policy? Will your domestic help understand it? You may have collected data from millions of people. This is a decent way of committing theft of private information, and we will not allow it.” He added that the Court would not proceed unless WhatsApp and Meta gave an undertaking that users’ personal data would not be misused.
The dispute stems from the CCI’s November 2024 ruling, which held that WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy violated the Competition Act, 2002. The regulator found that access to WhatsApp’s messaging service was unlawfully tied to consent for expanded data sharing with Meta entities, leaving users with no meaningful choice. WhatsApp was required to restore user autonomy through clear opt-in and opt-out mechanisms and provide greater disclosure.
Meta and WhatsApp challenged the CCI order before the NCLAT, which in November 2025 set aside a five-year ban on advertising-related data sharing and overturned findings of unlawful leveraging into Meta’s ad ecosystem, but upheld the Rs 213.14 crore penalty.