SC warns WhatsApp, Meta over privacy violations. Photo: ANI.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday strongly reprimanded WhatsApp and its parent company, Meta, over issues related to user data sharing. The Chief Justice said that citizens’ right to privacy cannot be compromised for technology or business purposes.
“You can’t play with the right to privacy of citizens of this country in the name of data sharing,” the court told the tech giant, according to agencies.
Chief Justice Surya Kant addressed the companies directly, saying, “if you can’t follow our Constitution, then leave India. We won’t allow any citizen’s privacy to be compromised.”
The bench expressed serious doubts about whether the platforms’ privacy policies were understandable to ordinary users.
“A poor woman or a roadside vendor, or someone who only speaks Tamil… will they be able to understand?” the court asked.
“Sometimes even we have difficulty understanding your policies,” the bench added, criticizing Meta and WhatsApp, “…so how will people living in rural Bihar understand them?”
The top court also challenged Meta’s claims about user consent and opt-out options. The bench stated that questioning the notion of opting out was effectively “a decent way of committing theft of private information.”
During the hearing, multiple appeals were considered, including petitions from WhatsApp, Meta, and the Competition Commission of India (CCI). These challenged a January 2025 NCLAT order relating to data sharing and allegations of market dominance.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi and other counsels highlighted ongoing legal scrutiny, while the CCI raised concerns about the companies leveraging user data for commercial purposes.
“The choice is between the lion and the lamb. Either you file an undertaking that there will be no data sharing, or we will dismiss your case,” the Chief Justice said.
Illustrating the issue, the bench cited examples where users received targeted advertisements for medicines shortly after private chats with doctors, raising concerns about the extent to which private information is being monetized.
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
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