Supreme Court warns WhatsApp, Meta over privacy violations and data sharing

The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday warned social media apps WhatsApp and its parent company Meta of invading people’s privacy over data-sharing and instant messaging. It said it cannot exploit user data for commercial purposes.  

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant cautioned the US firm, saying, “You can’t play with the privacy of our country, we will not allow you to share a single digit of our data.”

The court was hearing appeals filed by multiple people against Meta platforms and WhatsApp LLC against a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ruling that upheld a Rs 213.14 crore penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India over WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy.

Invasion of privacy 

The matters were heard by a bench of judges comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi. Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Akhil Sibal, appearing for Meta and WhatsApp respectively, informed the court that the penalty amount had already been deposited.

The Competition Commission of India also filed a cross-appeal challenging the NCLAT order that permitted Meta and WhatsApp to share user data for advertising, despite finding no abuse of dominance.

While listening to the appeals, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant expressed concerns over the invasion of privacy by Meta’s WhatsApp privacy policy , warning that the court  would not permit the platform to share even a single piece of user information.

“We will not allow you to share even a single information, you cannot play with the rights of this country, let a clear message go…,” the Chief Justice said.

He further added that the company had created a monopoly and was “making a mockery of constitutionalism” by undermining the right to privacy.

Committing theft of private information

When senior advocate Akhil Sibal also argued that users had the option to opt out of the policy, Chief Justice Surya Kant questioned how effective such consent really was.

“Will a poor woman selling fruits on the street understand your policy? Will your domestic help understand it? You may have collected data from millions of people. This is a decent way of committing theft of private information, and we will not allow it,” the Chief Justice said.

The Chief Justice also said that the court would not proceed until WhatsApp and Meta gave an undertaking that user’s personal data would not be used.  

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi responded that a Constitution Bench was already examining WhatsApp’s privacy policy and that an undertaking had been given there assuring no user would be barred for not accepting the 2021 policy.

Examining how WhatsApp rents out data

Justice Bagchi said the court would examine how WhatsApp “rents out” data and monetises users’ behavioural trends for targeted advertising, observing that every silo of data has commercial value.

Chief Justice Surya Kant echoed the concern, citing personal experience of receiving targeted ads shortly after health-related WhatsApp messages.

“If a message is sent to a doctor on WhatsApp that you are feeling under the weather, and the doctor sends some medicine prescriptions, immediately you start seeing ads,” CJI Kant said.