NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday (February 23) deferred the plea of Meta Platform Inc and WhatsApp against the Competition Commission of India’s order imposing a penalty. ₹213.14 crores on privacy policy.
Meta-WhatsApp privacy policy case: SC postpones hearing till February 23A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Jayamalya Bagchi and NV Anjaria was told that senior advocate Kapil Sibal was ill and hence the hearing should be adjourned.
The bench said it will take up the plea for passing an interim order on February 23.
It allowed a litigant represented by senior advocate Arvind Datar to be a party to the case.
On February 3, the bench came down hard on Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp, saying they “cannot play with privacy rights of citizens in the name of sharing data” and alleged that they are creating a monopoly in the market and stealing personal information of customers.
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Dismissing WhatsApp’s privacy policy, the bench cited “silent consumers” who were unorganized, digitally dependent and unaware of the implications of the data-sharing policy and asserted, “We will not allow the rights of any citizen of this country to suffer.”
WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms Inc.
The top court was hearing appeals by the two tech giants against the CCI order that imposed the penalty ₹213.14 crores on them for privacy policy.
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On November 4, 2025, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal set aside a portion of a CCI order barring WhatsApp from sharing data for advertising purposes with Meta Platform Inc for five years, but upheld ₹213 crore as penalty.
Later, the NCLAT clarified that its order in WhatsApp’s case regarding privacy and consent protection also applies to the collection and sharing of user data for non-WhatsApp purposes, including non-advertising and advertising.
The top court said it will pass an interim order on February 9 and directed that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology also be made a party to the appeals of the two organizations.
The bench also disposed of a cross-appeal by the CCI, which assailed the NCLAT judgment to the extent that it allowed WhatsApp and Meta to share user data for advertising purposes.
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