‘You Can’t Play With Privacy’: SC Slams WhatsApp, Meta Over Data Sharing

The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down strongly on WhatsApp and its parent company Meta over concerns related to user data sharing, stating that the right to privacy of Indian citizens cannot be compromised in the name of technology or business practices.

Hearing pleas filed by WhatsApp and Meta, the top court said companies cannot “play with the right to privacy” of users under the guise of data sharing. The bench questioned Meta’s argument on user consent and opt-out options, remarking that such practices amount to a “decent way of committing theft of private information”.

The court observed that privacy policies of large technology companies are often framed in a manner that ordinary users cannot fully understand. It questioned how meaningful consent can be claimed when users are effectively left with no real choice.

The Supreme Court has now made the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) a party to the case and said it will pass interim orders on February 9.

The case stems from WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy update, which drew regulatory scrutiny over its “take-it-or-leave-it” nature. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) had imposed a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore on WhatsApp and Meta for abusing their dominant market position by forcing users to accept data-sharing terms to continue using the messaging platform.

In November last year, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) upheld the CCI’s penalty, agreeing that the policy imposed unfair conditions on users. The tribunal held that users were effectively compelled to allow data sharing across Meta platforms without genuine consent.

While the NCLAT later set aside a direction barring WhatsApp from sharing data with Meta for advertising purposes, it upheld the regulator’s key findings on abuse of dominance.

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