New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday Meta and WhatsApp’s petitions against the Competition Commission of India’s order imposing penalty $213.14 crore on their privacy policy.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalia Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi is likely to hear the matter.
On February 3, the court made strong observations against Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp, saying they cannot “tamper with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing” and alleged that they create a monopoly in the market and commit theft of customers’ private information.
In denouncing WhatsApp’s privacy policy, the council referred to “silent agents” who were unorganized, digitally dependent, and unaware of the repercussions of data sharing policies, and stressed, “We will not allow the rights of any citizen in this country to be harmed.” WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms Inc.
The Supreme Court was hearing appeals by the two tech giants against the CCI order that imposed a penalty of $2,000. $213.14 crore on them due to the privacy policy.
On November 4, 2025, the National Corporation Law Appeals Tribunal set aside part of a CCI order that barred WhatsApp from sharing data with Meta Platforms Inc for advertising purposes for five years, but reserved the right to do so. $Penalty of 213 Crores.
Subsequently, NCLAT clarified that its order in the WhatsApp matter on privacy and consent safeguards also applies to the collection and sharing of user data for non-WhatsApp purposes, including non-advertising and advertising.
The Supreme Court said it would issue an interim order on February 9 and ordered that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology also be a party to the two companies’ appeal.
A cross-appeal was also filed by the CCI, which attacked the NCLAT ruling to the extent that it allowed WhatsApp and Meta to continue sharing users’ data for advertising purposes.
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