SC rejects WhatsApp-Meta appeal against CCI's privacy policy probe

New Delhi: The Competition Commission of India's (CCI) investigation into the alleged abuse of dominant position practices by WhatsApp in connection with its 2021 privacy policy was refused to be stayed by a single judge bench on Friday. WhatsApp and Facebook (now Meta) appealed this decision, which was rejected by the Delhi High Court, and the Supreme Court upheld this decision on Friday.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing WhatsApp, submitted that the Personal Data Protection Bill is coming and the Solicitor General told the Constitution bench to hear privacy policy matters in January. He said, "if a constitutional court finds that my policy is okay and consistent with the law, this cannot go on."

Sibal contended before a bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and Sudhanshu Dhulia that how can they probe in the meantime, while the issue of the privacy policy is pending? He added, "We're saying don't let the CCI pass final orders till this court's order comes".

The bench said the CCI is an independent body and the question is if your conduct is contrary to the Competition Act, correct? It added, "We can observe that contentions be kept open by CCI".

Additional Solicitor General N. Venkatraman submitted that data qua the 2021 policy is with WhatsApp, and it is being used in a dominant way for their ads, resulting in possible abuse. The concentration of data with a particular company results in abuse, he added.

Sibal said WhatsApp has a privacy policy, individual data is not shared and if I want to book a ticket, I use a business app, and the person I book with can share it. "WhatsApp is not sharing", he said, adding that this is applicable to every platform in the country and also the Indian apps.

After hearing arguments, the top court said the CCI is an independent authority to consider any violation of the provisions of the Competition Act of 2002, and no interference is required by this court in the high court order.

The bench added that when proceedings are initiated by CCI, it cannot be said that it's without jurisdiction, and the CCI cannot be dissuaded from investigation and alleged violation of the Competition Act, 2002.

Dismissing the petitions, the top court said any observations of the high court in proceedings are to be treated as tentative and prima facie, and the matter is to be considered on its own merits.

In August this year, the Delhi High Court dismissed the appeals filed by WhatsApp and Facebook (now Meta) challenging the single judge bench's order which had refused to stay the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) last year's order.

With inputs from IANS