India Supreme Court Rebukes Meta, WhatsApp on Privacy

India's Supreme Court issued a sharp rebuke to Meta Platforms and its subsidiary WhatsApp on Tuesday, warning the companies against exploiting user data through the messaging app's 2021 privacy policy update and emphasizing that privacy is a fundamental constitutional right that cannot be compromised for commercial gain.

The court, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, was hearing appeals filed by Meta and WhatsApp against a penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India. The commission had fined WhatsApp 213.14 crore rupees in 2021 for alleged abuse of its dominant market position through excessive data collection and sharing practices that enabled targeted advertising. This decision was later upheld by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal in January 2025, though the tribunal provided limited relief on certain data-sharing aspects related to advertising.

During the proceedings in New Delhi, the bench questioned the clarity and fairness of WhatsApp's privacy terms, noting that they are often too complex for ordinary users to comprehend. Chief Justice Kant highlighted the challenges faced by everyday Indians,...