Supreme Court To Hear Meta-WhatsApp Privacy Policy Case on Feb 23

New Delhi, Feb 22: The Supreme Court will on Monday hear appeals filed by Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp challenging a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order imposing a ₹213.14-crore penalty over their privacy policy and data-sharing practices.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, is scheduled to take up the matter. The court is also considering a cross-appeal by the CCI against a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ruling that allowed continued data sharing between WhatsApp and Meta for advertising purposes.

Earlier, on February 3, the apex court made sharp observations against the companies, stating they could not “play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing,” and flagged concerns of market monopoly and alleged misuse of users’ private information. The bench criticised WhatsApp’s privacy policy, referring to “silent customers” who are digitally dependent and unaware of data-sharing implications, and asserted that citizens’ rights would not be compromised.

The court is hearing challenges to the CCI order that penalised the firms over the 2021 privacy policy update. On November 4, 2025, the NCLAT set aside the CCI’s five-year ban on WhatsApp sharing user data with Meta for advertising, but upheld the ₹213-crore penalty. It later clarified that consent safeguards in its ruling also apply to data collection and sharing for both advertising and non-advertising purposes beyond WhatsApp services.

The Supreme Court had earlier directed that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology be impleaded in the proceedings and indicated it would consider interim directions while examining the appeals. (Agencies)