Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Monday is set to hear appeals by Meta Platforms Inc and its messaging arm WhatsApp against a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order that imposed a ₹213.14-crore penalty over the messaging service’s controversial privacy policy and data-sharing practices.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, will take up the matter. The proceedings also include a cross-appeal filed by the competition watchdog, which has challenged relief granted earlier to the companies by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).
At an earlier hearing on February 3, the court voiced strong reservations about data-sharing arrangements between WhatsApp and Meta. The bench remarked that companies could not “play with the right to privacy of citizens” and flagged concerns that large digital platforms might leverage user information to entrench market dominance. It also noted the vulnerability of “silent customers” — users who are digitally dependent and may not fully appreciate the implications of consent to data-sharing terms — stressing that individual rights could not be compromised.
The dispute stems from a CCI investigation into WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy update, which the regulator found to be anti-competitive. While imposing the ₹213.14-crore penalty, the CCI had also barred WhatsApp from sharing user data with Meta for advertising purposes for five years.
However, on November 4, 2025, the NCLAT partly overturned the watchdog’s order. The appellate tribunal removed the five-year prohibition on data-sharing for advertising but upheld the monetary penalty. It subsequently clarified that safeguards around user consent and privacy would apply broadly to data collection and sharing practices extending beyond WhatsApp, covering both advertising and non-advertising uses across Meta’s ecosystem.
The Supreme Court had earlier indicated it may issue an interim order in the case and directed that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology be impleaded as a party, given the broader regulatory and privacy implications.
With both sides challenging aspects of the NCLAT ruling, Monday’s hearing is expected to shape the contours of competition law and data-protection obligations for large digital platforms operating in India.
